
,A^^ 













<. 



*„ „:> ci,V cf->*^ ^0 'O 



/ "-. 



^'. 



O- 













^^' ,^^^ 






'^oo^ 






"o, •'■.no' \\'-^ '>-^' "'" J^ S-" ', '^c 




Pope, or President? 

STARTLING DISCLOSURES 



ROMANISM 



AS REVEALED 



BY ITS OWN WRITERS. 



Facts for Americans, 



" It lias always been the subtlety of grand deceivers to graft their greatest errors 
on some material truths, thus to make them pass unnoticed by those ■who look 
more at the root, than at the fruits. Their most destructive principles have ever 
been founded on some necessary and important truths." 

STILLINGFLEET. 



/ 

NEW YORK : 
R. L. Delisser, 

(LATE STANFORD & DELISSER,) 

No. 508 Broadway. 

1859. 







Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S53, by 

R. L. DELIS SEE, 

In the clerk's office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. 



^ 



TO THE PEOPLE 

OF THE UNITED STATES. 



"The keen vibration of bright truth is, hell." — TouNa. 

The extreme incredulity of the American people to 
believe, that their civil and religious freedom is emi- 
nently perilled by the Roman Hierarchy, has induced 
the publication of this volume. Its principles, practices 
and aims as revealed in the authorities quoted are, for 
the first time, presented to the American public. 

It is not because the Roman Catholic Hierarchy is 
founded upon superstition ; but because it involves a con- 
spiracy against human freedom, that we now address 
this volume to you, people of the United States. 

The works of Romish theologians are all printed in a 
language foreign to our country, and consequently sealed 
books ; except to scholars, who from culpable blindness 
on the subject, have never undertaken a thorough expo- 
sition of their principles. For this reason the people are 



To the Reader. 

incredulous, and cannot comprehend the danger which im- 
pends over them. 

The Papal Church has now become a destined and 
formidable power in this republic. It therefore becomes 
vitally important, that some one should dare assume the 
responsibility of reveaUng the astounding mysteries of 
the Vatican. We have allowed its own writers to un- 
tangle the fearful meshes of their crafty and corrupt sys- 
tem, and to prove to the American people by their o^m 
authorities, that the Romish priesthood are here to sub- 
jugate the liberties of this country; and should these 
truths be impugned by the adherents of Rome, we are 
prepared to make still further disclosures of their princi- 
ples and practices. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGB 

POPERY PROVED A HUMAN INVENTION ... 9 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ROMISH CONFESSIONAL . . ... 36 

CHAPTER III. 

CONVENTS EXPOSED BY ROillSH WRITERS ... 81 

CHAPTER IV. 
THE INQUISITION 123 

CHAPTER V. 

THE SOCIETY OF JESUS 170 



vi Contents. 

CHAPTER VI. 

PASS 

THE PRINCIPLES OF JESUITISM 198 

CHAPTER VII. 

SECRET INSTRUCTIONS TO THE JESUITS . . .323 

CHAPTER VIII. 

SAN FIDESTI SOCIETY, OR SOCIETY OF HOLY FAITH 239 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE BIBLE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS .... 244 

CHAPTER X. 

CATHOLIC CONGREGATIONS 262 



CHAPTER XI. 

" THE GUILDS " OF IRELAND 267 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE WEALTH OF THE ROmSH CHURCH . . 273 



Contents. vii 

CHAPTER XIII. 

PAGK 

BEDINI'S MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES . . .290 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 300 

SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. 336 

CONCLUDING REMARKS 348 

APPENDIX 354 



ROMANISM AS REVEALED 

BY ITS OWN WRITERS. 



CHAPTER I. 

POPEllY PUOYED A IIUMAIS" IXVEXTIO^S". 

No snch Person as Pope in Christianity — ^No Successor of Peter appointed — "WTien 
the first Pope arose — First Forgery, and Proofs — Second Forgery, and Proofs — 
Third Forgery, and Proofs— Who made Peter a "Pope," and put liim among 
the Papal Imposters— When the Bishop of Rome was first called Universal — 
When first a Temporal Bishop— Hildebrand, the Tyrant and Poisoner — Arch- 
bishop Kenrick— Stupendous Fraud — The Master-piece of Satan — Quotations — 
The Main Dogmas all proved to be Novelties in Eeligion — Dates — Proofs — 
The Voice of Scripture. 

The liierarcby of Rome which has occupied so large a 
])ortion of history ; which has so forced itself npoii com- 
munities and nations by priestly ambition and thirst for 
dominion ; which arrogates to itself divine supremacy, 
and blasphemously usurps the prerogative, titles, and 
sovereignty of God — to absolve from sin, to dispense 
pardon and eternal blessedness or eternal damnation to 
the souls of men — and which has so bound the conscience 
and frightened it into submission to itself, we now pro- 
ceed to show is a mere human invention. 

Under the garb of religious claims, this human device 
has deluged the world with its floods of crimes, — incest, 
perjuries, murders, extortions, concubinage, avarice, assas- 
sinations, tyranny, immoralities, and bloody persecutions. 

1* ^ m 



lo Romanism a Human Invention. 

"We give the dates and the proofs when this hierarchy- 
arose and its dogmas were enacted. 

We exhibit it as based on forgeries and fiction. Our 
proofs will be clear and incontrovertible, deduced from 
history and from Romish authorities. 

As this chapter is designed to be but an epitome of 
the argument, we shall condense the whole subject into 
as brief a comjoass as possible. We shall assert nothing 
— we shall assume nothing on doubtful authoritv. . We 
shall fortify our facts as we proceed from step to step, by 
the highest and most incontestible proofs. 

Our proposition is this : — 

That Popery is a mere human invention for the ad- 
vancement of prelatical ambition, wealth, and power; 
and that it is founded on forgeries and fiction. 

Fh'st Proof. — No such person as Pope existed or was 
known in the Christian church in the days of the Apostles 
or for five hundred years afterwards. The Apostles were 
all on an equality.* 

Second Proof . — There is no chronology or history which 
certifies that Peter was ever at Rome, or that any bishop 
became his successor as head of the church. Let the 
reader bear in mind, that in the iSTew Testament, inspired 
by the Sph'it of God, minister and bishop mean precisely 
the sime thing — they are convertible terms. We men- 
tion this feet as of importance, for, in the present day, 
l^ersons not acquainted with the original Greek in which 
the New Testament was written, and as superiority is 
fancifully ascribed to a bishop, may suppose that a dis- 
tinction exists between these terms. But it is not so ; 

* Histon'- of the New Testament. Coleman's Chris. Antiqui. Mos- 
heira's Eccle. Hist. Gibbon's Eise and Fall of R. E. Haweis' Chiirch 
History. 



Romanism a Human Invention. ii 

minister and bishop mean one and the same thing in the 
New Testament. 

The first bishop who was called " Pope," was Sora- 
machus in 501. But he was only one bishop among all 
the others, having no superiority over them.* 

The bishops of the principal cities of Constantinople, 
Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, and Alexandria were all inde- 
pendent of each other during the first seven centuries, 
and were sometimes called " patriarchs," which name 
tiie bishops of ConstantinoiDle and the Eastern Grecian 
churches retain to the present day.f 

Boniface III., a bishop of Rome, was, in the seventh 
century, or GOQ, Jlrst called U7iiverscd by the emperor 
Phocas of Constantinople, a murderer and a tyrant. And 
in 588, John, bishop of ConstantinojDle, assumed the same 
title of Universal. Both were usurpations..]; 

In this sixth century, and during the three preceding, 
the bishops began gradually to usurp prelatical powers, 
and Eunodius in his Apology for the obsequious acts of 
the Fourth Council, held by order of Theoderic, 503, said 
that the bishop of Rome was subject to no earthly tri- 
bunal, and styled him judge in the place of God, and the 
vicegerent of the Most High. This was the first time 
that such a blasphemous title was given to the bishoj) or 
Pope of Rome. And thus w^e see Paul's prediction ful- 
filled. " So that he as God sitteth in the temj^le of God, 
showing himself that he is God."§ 

Now, reader, observe how during the fourth, fifth and 

* Wilkes' History. Bower on the Popes. 

t Coleman's Chris. Antiquities, Sec. p. .56. Gieseler's and Mos- 
heira's Kccle. Hist. 

X Waddington's Church Hist of the Sixth Century. 
§ 2 Thess. xi. 4. Gieseler, Vol. I, p. 339. 



12 Romanism a Human Invention. 

sixth centuries, the bishops dispensed with the plain 
simphcity of the ministers of the gospel, and gratified 
their thirst for wealth and splendor as well as power, by 
the following testimonies: "When the Emperor Maximus, 
surrounded by his illustrious guests, sat in his banqueting 
chamber, Martin the Bishop of Tours, and one of his 
presbyters, sat next to him in all the pride and pomp 
which attended on a stimulated ambition. According to 
the usual custom, an attendant ' jDresents a chalice of 
wine to the emperor, who commands it to be oifered first 
to the bishop, that he may receive it from the prelate's 
hands ; but no sooner has Martin drunk, than he passes 
the wine to his presbyter, as next in importance to him- 
self, while the empress bathes his feet with her tears, 
wipes them with the hair of her head, attends as a slave 
to every mean indulgence, and regards the crumbs of his 
meal as the richest delicacy. Thus early had the nominal 
followers of Christ departed from Christii\n simj^licity."* 
Xo wonder, then, that in the third century history 
thus describes the existing state of the Christian church: 
"Long peace had corrupted the discipline divinely 
revealed to us. Each was intent on improving his 
patrimony, and had forgotten what believers had done 
under the apostles, and what they always ought to do. 
They were brooding over the arts of amassing wealth ; 
works of mercy were neglected, and discipline was at its 
lowest ebb; luxury and effeminacy prevailed; meretrici- 
ous arts were practised. Many bishops, neglecting the 
peculiar duties of their stations, gave themselves up to 
secular pursuits ; they deserted their places of residence 
and their flocks ; they traveled through distant provinces 
in quest of pleasure and gain, and they gave no assistance 

* Sulp. Sevenis, chap. 20. 



Romanism a Human Invention. 13 

to their needy brethren, but were insatiable in their 
thirst of money. They possessed estates by fraud and 
multiplied usury.* 

Thus, by reference to the Kew Testament, we have 
shown that there was no such person or title as Pope. 
We never read there of Pope Paul or Pope John. We 
do not find one particle of authority given to Peter more 
than to the other apostles, for when our Lord spoke of 
the " rock," he spoke of the truth on which his church 
should be built ; for any one who will examine the pas- 
sage will see that it was not Petrus, but petra, rock, or 
rock of truth, of which the Saviour spoke, and Paul says, 
"that rock was Christ." As for the word "keys," it 
merely meant the admission of a person to or his rejec- 
tion from the visible church on earth ; that is, meaning 
the sj)iritual, not the corporeal discipline of the church. 
But this church power of mere discipline of membership 
was no more given to Peter than it was to the other 
apostles ; no one was superior to the others ; they were 
all on an equality. But the popish interpretation involves 
a double absurdity, for they take it literally, as they take 
the figurative expression, " This is my body," literally ; 
and then, according to their own showing, Peter would 
be a literal rock, as the bread, or " wafer," in their inter- 
pretation is made a literal body. Peter was not consti- 
tuted the head of the church. No such head, temporal 
or spiritual, was appointed in the I^ew Testament. 
Popery commences its succession with the chair of Saint 
Peter at Rome ; but there was no such chiiir. There is 
not a scrap of history, profane or ecclesiastical, to prove 
that Peter ever was at Rome, and from the above facts 
and proofs there was no papal see and no papal succession 

* See Mosheim, Third Century. 



14 Romanism a Human Invention. 

of that apostle. The pontifical succession, therefore, is 
the sheerest imposture. Any mmister of the gospel 
or bishop has the same reason to call himself Pope, 
and assert himself to be the universal head, spiritual 
and temporal, of the church. Throughout Greece, the 
Ionian Islands, etc., all the priests are called pope, such 
as Pope John, Pope Adrian, &c., consequently, independ- 
ent of any additional proof, popery, with all its mum- 
meries and iniquities, is a human invention, without one 
primitive jolank to stand on, or even a cobweb for its 
support. 

Here we might rest the argument, for any one may 
see that the Word of God is the only authority on this 
subject. If that says not one word nor gives the 
slightest hint about popery, as a jDart of the Christian 
system, we need pursue the argument no farther. And 
when we add to this the total absence of all primitive 
cotemporary authority — ^for which we refer the reader 
to Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, Haweis's Church 
History, Dupin's Auteurs Ecclesiastiques, and other 
undoubted historians — the argument is complete, and we 
might be satisfied to scorn the hollow pretensions of 
popery ; but we now j)roceed to show that the whole of 
the above alleged facts are sustained by the most barefaced 

Forgeries. — In the first place, it is proper to notice 
certain documents called " Apostolical Constitutions." 

These so-called Apostohcal Constitutions Mere a 
collection of church regulations, attributed to the 
apostles, and pretended to have been collected by St. 
Clement, whose name they bear. They Avere designed 
to augment the power^of each minister or bishop in his 
own church. They appeared first in the fourth century, 
but have been changed and corrupted iii successive 



Romanism a Human Invention. 15' 

periods. They consist of eight books, and 250 octavo 
pages ; but it is worthy of notice, as a very significant fact, 
that not a word is mentioned in them of the supremacy 
of the Pope or of the Church of Rome over other 
churches. They give the names of all the apostles, and 
represent them as performing ministerial duties, but 
never give even a hint at the supremacy of Peter or at 
his suj)erior rights. Nothing, from the beginning to the 
end of the book, can be found to favor in the slightest 
degree any superior name, title or claim of the Church 
of Rome or of the supremacy of the Po]De. That they 
were forgeries, is manifest from the following proofs : 

First. That no mention is made of them by Irenoeus, 
Origen, Eusebius, or by any historian. Christian or pro- 
fane, until the third and fourth centuries. 

Second. In this period the bishops had assumed 
authority and powers which never belonged to them, and 
to which they had no right. Superstition had begun to 
mar the simplicity of worship, and the people were over- 
awed by the pride and arrogance of the priests who 
could easily deceive thera. 

Third. There are many things in them diffei-ent from 
the New Testament, and even contrary to the design and 
genius of Christianity, and the " Constitutions" carry on 
thQTo.^ prima facie evidence of forgery. 

Fourth. Upon the character and writings of Cyprian ; 
the papacy chiefly rest for the origin of popery and these, 
" Constitutions," which never speak a word about popery. 
But a work published by Longman & Co., London, 
written by the Rev. J. Shepherd, shows the forgery of 
Cyprian's writings, in the most convincing light. He not 
only pronounces the whole of Cyprian's writings to be 
forgeries, but he denies the very existence of Cyprian ! 



i6 Romanism a Human Invention. 

The references to him in Jerome and Eusehius, are 
Interpolations. The life of him by Pontius is an ill writ- 
ten fiction. Mr. Shepherd has critically examined every 
scrap of history in the early ecclesiastical periods of the 
chm-ch, and by the proofs which he has collected, arrives 
at these conclusions.* 

But, forgeries, as they maybe, let it be remembered, that 
they contain nothing to give the smallest countenance to 
the pretensions of the Pope or the Church of Rome. 
Having given the first or elementary forgery, which pre- 
pared the way for the enormous power of the popes in 
after periods, we come now to 

The Second Foegert. — This is the greatest forgery 
ever perpetrated on earth. The Roman or Western em- 
pire was destroyed by barbarians from the north, under 
Odoacer, King of the Heruli, in 476. Fifteen years before 
that, the Bishop of Rome, whom the papists in their 
false catalogue of popes, call Leo 1.^ first made Peter the 
fabulous basis of j^apal ambition. f From this period to 
the year 800, Rome was sometimes under the control of 
barbarians, and sometimes under that of the Emperor of 
Constantinople. Four important facts are here noted : — 
1. The bishops of Rome, during all these periods, had no 
temporal possessions; they were not temporal rulers 
of Rome, nor of any provinces. They w^ere subject to 
the control of barbarians, or that of the Emperor of Con- 
stantinople. 2. Their chief business was to wrangle with 
the bishops of Constantinople for some kind of spiritual 
authority. 3. The bishops of Rome, at the time of the 
inroads of the barbarians and the destruction of the Ro- 

* See Grab's Answer to Whiston; Saurin's Ser., vol ii., p. 185; Lard- 
ner's Cred, vol. iii, p. 2, ch. last; Doddridges' Loc. 119. 
t See Ranke's History of the Popes ; Wilkes, also. 



Romanism a Human Invention. \j 

man empire, came near losing their place altogether, at 
Rome. 4. The emperors had supreme civil authority 
over the bishops at this period ; and, the emperors alone^ 
and not the bishops, called general councils of the church, 
and no pope or legate then existed to preside in them. 
By considering these facts, and the ambitious design of 
the priesthood, and the growing prevalence of ignorance, 
superstition, and vice, among the people, the reasons for 
these forgeries will appear evident. The first general 
council called by the emperor, was that of Nice, A. D. 
325. This fact of the emperor calling it, and not the 
minister or bishop of Rome, nullifies all the present 
claims of the popes of Rome to any power over the 
churches or bishops ; and also cuts off all their authority 
for appeals to their usurped " See." A small provincial 
council, it is true, called to meet at Sardica, the metrop- 
olis of Lacia, in Illyricum, after the above general council 
authorized an appeal to the Bishop of Rome. " But, a 
provincial council, Rome being judge, has no lawful right 
to rescind or repeal the canons of a general council. And 
the council convened afterwards by the Emperor Theo- 
dosius, at Constantinople, condemned the proceedings of 
the Council at Sardica." Hence the popes, in some way, 
must contrive frauds for their usurpation and to estab- 
lish their power. 

This second important ybr^ery, of which we are speak- 
ing, is a pretended donation from the Emperor Constan- 
tine the Great, in the year 324, of the city of Rome, 
and all Italy, with the crown, mitre, etc., to Sylvester, 
then bishop of Rome. So the first annunciation to the 
world of this pretended " donation" was not made till 
near the close of the eighth century, in an epistle of Pope 
Adrian I. to the Emperor Charlemagne, in w^nch he 



i8 Romanism a Human Invention. 

exhorts him to imitate the liberality of the great Con- 
stantine. According to the legend, " the first of the 
Christian emperors was healed of the leprosy and purified 
in the waters of baptism by St. Sylvester, the Roman 
bishop, and never was physician more gloriously recom- 
pensed."* 

Thus for nearly five hundred years from the time this 
pretended donation was given, history was silent — the 
world knew nothing of it — the bishop of Rome had no 
civil or temporal power. And all of a sudden, after a 
lapse of nearly five centuries, and when the bishop of 
Rome wanted some better authority, some pretended 
donation, some prop to stand upon, this forgery was cun- 
ningly and shrewdly manufactured for the purpose ; and 
on this stupendous imposture the temporal usurpation or 
the temporal power of tlie pope of Rome is based ! f 

When this fictitious donation and other false decretals 
were imposed upon the world, Mosheim states that the 
corruptions and profligacy of the clergy had reached the 
most enormous height, and the people were shrouded in 
darkness. Said Mabillan, a very learned theological 
French writer of the seventeenth century, " not one 
priest in a thousand in Spain could write a common let- 
ter of salutation to another." A little later, Alfred the 
Great, King of England, declared that "he could not 
find a single priest south of the Tliames who understood 
the ordinary prayers, or could translate latin into his 
mother tongue." We need not wonder then, that the 
forgeries were j)erpetrated, and that they corresponded 

* Gibbon. 

j- See Mosheim, Eighth and Xinth Centuries. Hallam's Middle Ages, 
pages 380 to 460. Teraboschi, Storia, della Litteratura, torn, iii. 



Romanism a Human Invention. 19 

to the corruptions and knavery of the priests and the 
blindness and credulity of the people. 

Third Forgery. — Another most barefaced imposition, 
by which the above false decretals and other forgeries 
are palmed upon the world to establish the imposture of 
the popish " See," is contained in a volume by Severinus 
Binius, published at Cologne, 1618, authenticated by a 
bull of Pope Paul V., sanctioned by the Emperor of 
Germany, and approved and licensed by the Romish cen- 
sors of the press. The front X-)age contains a pictorial 
border, "at one of the four corners of which, on the top, 
Peter with his keys and coat of arms is represented as 
seated beside the three persons of the Trinity ; at the 
other, is represented the pope with a sword wielding 
temporal power ; on the right side, the church is holding 
a cross, the Pope's trij^le crown and keys ; on the left 
side, religion with a crucifix, and over each, the Holy 
Ghost is painted as a dove. At the bottom, the Pope 
surrounded by and at the head of his bishops, is repre- 
sented as treading on a prostrate band of so-called here- 
tics, and over them, in latin, the inscription, ' They are 
dead who sought the church's life.' " This audacious 
volume, with its pictorial imposture, agrees well with 
popery. It verifies the description. The Mystery of 
Iniquity, 2d Thess. ii. 7. And mother of harlots and 
abominations. Rev. xviii. 5. Now let us read the title 
page. It is as follows : 

Councils^ General and Provincial^ GreeJc and Latin^ 
so far as knoion. Also Decretals, Epistles, and Lives of 
Roman Pontiffs ; all by the study and labor of Severi- 
nus Pinius, P.P., Presbyter of the Metropolitan Chiirch 
of Cologne. Revised, enlarged, and again illustrated 
with Notes, and arranged in an historical method. To 



20 Romanism a Human Invention. 

S. D. J^. Paul Pope. By John Gymnicus^ 1618, wiih 
the favor and privilege of his Moyal Majesty. 

In these forged decretals there is a long epistle from 
the pretended Pope Clement to James, the Apostle at 
Jerusalem, establishing all the present claims of the 
pope of Rome. Successions, keys, supremacy, and the 
dogmas and canons, which complete this whole master, 
piece of Satan and finish the building of Babylon, the 
pope and hierarchy of Rome. 

Proofs of these Forgeries, — Firsts The internal evi- 
dence. The utter absurdity in supposing them to have 
been written in an age in which they profess to have 
been written, that is, during the first and second centu- 
ries. They omit all that is proper to that age. They 
contain numerous contradictions and false dates. The 
style of one man appears. They contain peculiar Latin 
words, and the style of the middle ages, which were not 
known in the first age. The Christians in the early age 
in which these epistles and decretals profess to have been 
written, were weak and sufi"ering horrible persecutions, 
and yet they are not adapted to console them, but are 
only intent in rearing a Romish hierarchy to gratify the 
lust, pride, arrogance, and power of the popes of Rome. 
It is as if Thomas Aquinas, a voluminous Romish writer 
in 1270, had described the battle of Waterloo in 1815, in 
the style of the present day, or of Pins the IX., and his 
decrees of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin 
Mary, or the doings of Archbishop Hughes in 1858. It 
is the same as if Erasmus in 1520, had written about the 
American Revolution, and Washington, and railroads, 
steamboats, and spinning jennies. 

But one of the grossest blunders is, in trying to link 
the chair of the Pope to Peter. "The forger makes 



Romanism a Human Invention. 21 

Clement say that Peter, before his death, enjoined it on 
him to wiite to James, brother of our Lord, at Jerusalem, 
and inform Him of all the facts. Now, it is well knoAvn, 
that James died seven years before Peter, and yet, Peter, 
it seems, did not know this fact, and is made to enjoin 
Clement to write to a dead man ! 

Well might this blunder stagger Binius, who. Jesuit- 
like, says either Clement did not write the epistle, or that 
tlie name of James crept into the letter instead of 
Simeon. " But James is introduced, not only in the let- 
ter, but in the body of the work, and not only in one 
letter, but in two." 

Second. Baronius, a great Romish authority of the 
sixteenth century, abandons the defence of these trans- 
parent and notorious frauds. 

Bellarmine, a cardinal, and the champion of the Roman 
cause, abandons their defence. Fleury, the great French 
historian and papist, not only abandons their defence, but 
most clearly establishes their falsehood. David Blondell, 
at Geneva, in 1G2S, annihilates the whole fabric and com- 
pletely refutes Surianus and Binius. 

Notwithstanding all the evidences of the forgeries and 
their exposure, yet, the Popes of Rome chng to them, 
and on these base and wicked impostures the whole mon- 
strous system of popery rests ! 

Thus the Papacy has built up the hierarchy of Rome, 
manufactured Peter's chair, placed the Popes, from the 
eighth and ninth centuries, in it, and instigated the cruel 
and bloody dogmas of persecution against all who disbe- 
lieve and oppose such fabricated wonders and knavery.* 

* See Dr. Geddes on Popery, vol. ii. and iii. Hallam's Middle 
Ages, pages 50 to 80. Mosheiin, Eighth, Ninth, and Seventeenth 
Centuries. Fleury's Eccle. His., vol. xvi. Cardinal Baronius Eccle. 
A^nnals, Eighth and Ninth Centuries. 



22 Romanism a Human Invention. 

Thus we have seen that there was no temporal^ spirit- 
ual, or universal pope, or any pope, during all the time 
of the apostles, and during all the time of the early 
fathers — that popery is a novelty, gradually emerging 
through priestly corruption, worldly thirst for power, and 
frauds and forgeries of the most Avicked and transparent 
character. 

That the very name of pope, and the existence of popery 
were not known for several hundred years after the 
Christian era — that the first Christian minister or bishop 
to whom the name of pope (papa) was given, was Som- 
machus, and this not until the sixth century — that the 
first annunciation to the world that the Pope was a 
temporal bishoj) of Rome, was not made until near 
the close of the eighth century, and for the very plain 
reason, that the forgeries upon which this temporal usur- 
pation was based, were not completed; and then it was 
introduced, says Gibbon, " by an epistle of Pope Adrian 
I. to the Emperor Charlemagne," in which a jDrotended 
" donation of the city of Rome and all Italy," was given 
by Constantine, in the fourth century, to Sylvester, then 
a bishop of Rome ! /So that nearly five hundred years 
interval elapsed heticeen the pretended gift and its pjuhll- 
cation to the world. 

Here then, we have the origin of the temporal usurp- 
ing power of the apostate church. From this period, the 
temporal and spiritual power of the Romish hierarchy 
appeared in all its superstitions. Shortly after, in the 
eleventh century, we see Hildebrand, or Pope Gregory 
VII., mouDting the papal throne in all the pride of royid 
power. 

This fanatical and ambitious monk, "whose name is 
proverbial for impjriousness and wickedness, was the 



Romanism a Human Invention. 23 

poisoner," s:iys Ranke, " of popes ; and, in the accom- 
plishment of his schemes for his despotic elevation, liad 
buried eight pontiffs, who were the instruments of his 
policy and the tools of his ambition." 

Having thus shown the rise and establishment of po- 
pery by authentic history and chronology, we shall now 
show the dates when the various main jDarts of the scaffold- 
ing or structure of this temple of Babylon were reared, 
which will be a confirmation of the whole of the preceding 
evidences, and will clearly establish our proposition, viz. : 
that Popery from its foundation is a novelty in religion 
and a mere human invention. 

Auricidar Confession is a novelty. It was established 
by the Council of Lateran, 1215 ; and this enactment 
was made twelve hundred years after the Christian era ! 
By the confessional, the priest obtains dominion over the 
conscience, and there is an end to personal liberty ; and 
if the priest controls in the confessional the conscience 
of the nation, then, farewell to national liberty. 

Baptism of the hells is a novelty ; it was first intro- 
duced by Pope John XIII., in 972. This is a foolish 
force, and a blasphemous perversion of the holy ordinance 
of Christian baptism, ordained only for human beings. 
The ceremony of baj)tism in this jDaj^al church takes place 
in private, wherever the child is presented. " Sometimes 
the font is represented with John the Baptist pouring 
water on the head of Jesus Christ, from an oyster shell, 
while the Saviour stands half immersed in the water. 
The mixture of salt w^ater and two different kinds of 
sacred oils, which are required to make a good water of 
baptism, is prepared on 'holy Saturday' in each year, 
which is the day before Easter Sunday. It takes about 
five hours to make it. Popery has chosen to improve on 



24 Romanism a Human Invention. 

the gospel mode as practised by St. John the Baptist 
and the Apostles, when on earth ; then, the jnire water 
of the stream, was all they required." 

The child is first exorcised, to drive away evil spirits ; 
then it promises, through its sponsors, to give up Sataii / 
next, it has soda-salt put in its mouth (given as the salt 
of wisdom), with one kind of oil a cross is made on the 
forehead; with another kind, a cross on the shoulders 
and breast — the liquid from the fountain is then poured 
over the child's head, three times — then the priest hands 
the sponsor the end of his white stole, and says in latin, 
"Receive the white stole to be brought spotless before the 
Lord." The sponsor then, on his knees, recites the "Credo," 
according to the formula of the Jesuit Bellarmine, as they 
say it during mass. And the child is evermore a member 
of the Roman Catholic Church, or under its eternal curse 
as a heretic* 

The use of Images is a novelty. It was not fully estab- 
lished until the ninth century. This violates the second 
commandment, and is a heathenish practice. 

"In 1837, the 27th of July, the ancient wooden statue 
of St. Anna having worn out, a new one was purchased 
from a dealer in saints, and was that day inaugurated at 
Ravenna, in Italy. The programme of the exhibition 
was hung in all directions. On the ground before the 
church were booths of the dealers in saints. Madonnas, 
rosaries, relics, Christs, of every material and description. 
Then, there were dealers in everythbig to eat and drink 
that the appetites of the multitude might be satisfied. 
There are numbers of priests there, who have no chaige 
of a church, but live by selling masses to the highest 
bidders on solemn occasions. They were paid that day 
* Gajani. 



Romanism a Human Invention, 25 

fifty cents, and a good dinner. Then tliere were clerks, 
destined for priests; they got five cents and a dinner. 
There were many hasty masses said that day, but at eleven 
o'clock a solemn one was sung, and then the procession 
formed. A plaster statue of Christ was borne by a young 
girl ; four others followed, with candles ; then followed 
men, women and children, attended by overseers, armed 
with sticks. These overseers were a brotherhood, clad 
in long white " cajDpe" and red cowls. After them fol- 
lowed the young priestly clerks, etc. All this crowd of 
poor ignorant creatures were singing in what they called 
latin praises to St. Anna. St. Anna's statue was borne 
by six yomig men, and under a canopy, borne by other 
six men. There was the old curate in pontifical robes ; 
old priests ; young clerks, who were burning incense and 
ofiering smoke of it to the statue with their censers. 
When they stopped by a large oak tree, an altar was 
foimd efe(!ted for the i^urpose. St. Anna was set on the 
altar, and all knelt in the dust to worshij) her statue ! 
The old curate also knelt a few moments, and then rising 
before the rest, ordered the bearers to move the statue 
here and there, so as to form a cross in the air, while he 
pronounced his latin benediction. Then began the firing 
of five hundred mortars at measm'ed intervals. 

" Feasting and separation of the crowd followed, until 
four o'clock, when vespers were performed and the serv- 
ice closed by making a sign of the cross with a wafer, 
said to be the real body and blood of Jesus Christ ; but 
the people evidently were more interested in the wooden 
statue of St. Anna than with the body and blood of Jesus 
Christ. From the church a large baloon was seen sus- 
pended, with the painted image of St. Anna, the object 
and date of the feast inscribed on it. At sunset, fire- 
2 



26 Romanism a Human Invention. 

works were exhibited, closing Avith St. Anna's portrait 
skilfully illuminated." * 

The doctrine of Purgatory is a novelty. It was not 
established in Rome till 1450, by the Council of Florence. 
" This is a capital contrivance of the priests to get money 
from their votaries, and they have made millions by this 
crafty device. One day, a cardinal, disposed to be talk- 
ative, began to pose his chaplain, and try the extent 
of his profound theology. ' How many masses, I pray 
you,' said he, gravely, ' will it take to pray a soul out of 
purgatory?' The chaplain was struck dumb at the 
weighty question. After painful silence, during which 
he had rummaged every corner of his brain and exhausted 
his knowledge of the Fathers, he frankly told the truth — 
not usual in Rome— that he could not tell his eminence ; 
that it was prodigiously beyond his depth. 

" ' Well, I will tell thee,' said his eminence, with a con- 
descending air, whiile the chaplain was all eye and ear to 
receive the awfully important discovery, ' it will take as 
many masses to relieve a soul out of purgatory as it will 
take snow-balls to heat our oven.' " f 

Signor Gajani relates, that his grandfather directed in 
his mil, that the interment of his corpse should be with- 
out pomp or ceremony. The father-curate called im- 
mediately after the old man died, denounced the family 
for not having been called to assist the dying and admin- 
ister the sacraments, and threatened to deny him the 
rights of bm-ial. But, the burial took place, just as the 
will directed. Next day a bill written in latin was pre- 
sented, and in these words: "Pro funere non facto du- 
centa scfutatorum ;'''' that is: "For not having made the 
solemn burial,two hundred dollars." And this the priest 
* Gajani. \ Gavin. 



Romanism a Hum.an Invention. 27 

actually had the right to do, as the lawyer consulted 
soon showed, that there was a statute enforcing such im- 
postures, and the bill was paid. 

This right, to compel the payment of whatever sum the 
curate may assess, for not burying the dead in the bound- 
aries of his parish, is called " black stole, or dress," in 
the same manner that he raises contributions for marrying 
or baptizing, in consequence of his "white stole." Beside, 
they teach, that the payment of this outrageous extortion 
will help the dead to escape the pains of purgatory ! 
According to the doctrine of the Romish church, there 
are four places in the other world, where human souls 
may go, viz. : Ccelum^ Infemicm^ PiLrgatorimn and Lirti- 
bus. In this last place were confined the souls of the holy 
Fathers before the advent of our Lord ; then it was Jjim- 
bus Palium ; but at the ascension of Jesus Christ, the 
holy Fathers were removed to their places in Coelum ; 
and then, in order that such a place should not be empty, 
it was decreed that Limbus should be the mansion for 
little children who died without baptism^ to stay there 
confined until the day of judgment ; and since then, the 
place is called Limbus Infantum. Here is the climax of 
novelties ! 

The priesVs celibacy is a novelty in the Christian 
world. It was introduced by that tyrant and atheist 
Gregory VII., in 10T4. This is directly contrary to the 
Bible, which it says " Marriage is honorable in all ;" and 
priests make no exception, for a minister or bishop is 
spoken of as having one wife. 

Trayisubstantiation^ is a novelty. The dogma was 
established by Pope Innocent III., at the Council of 
Lateran, 1215. 

Gregory VII. wrote two epistles against it in the 
eleventh century. 



28 Romanism a Human Invention. 

Transubstantiation, means the couversion of bread and 
wine into the real body and blood of Jesus Christ, by 
the few mystic words uttered by a priest ; and that 
the wafer is converted into Christ every time tlie mass is 
celebrated ; this is contrary to the Bible, which says, 
Christ was only offered once. 

The popish doctrine, which relates to the mass, with 
its two elements of transubstantiation and propitiatory 
sacrifice, is the most blasphemous in practice, and the 
most fatal in doctrine of all the papal impostures. The 
abominable presumption of priests making as many 
Christs as they please, and offering them to God as 
victims of a sacrifice, is the pivot on which the whole 
papal system turns. Reason, with which God has en- 
dowed his creatures cannot but reject it ! The doctrine 
is, that, by the virtue of the sacraments, the bread and 
wine is actually and substantially changed into the body 
and blood of Christ, together with his soul and with 
his divinity. 

The Romish Church invented the imposture of this 
sacrament, because it could not in any other way inspire 
a superstitious faith. What did our blessed Saviour say 
on the subject ? His testimony should settle the question. 

" The words that I speak to you they are spirit and 
they are life."* 

" The kingdom of God is not meat and drink ; it is the 
spirit which quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing."f 

To eat and drink is to believe, to be united to Christ, 
by the work of the Spirit, and has nothing whatever to 
do with matter ; corporeal substance is only a type of the 
spiritual. 

This doctrine of converting a wafer into God omnipo- 

« St. John, vi. 63. f Romans, xiv. 17. 



Romanism a Human Invention. 29 

tent was introcliicecl by Euticlius, a heretic, whose dogma 
was presented to the Church by Pope Innocent III., Avho 
had it confirmed by the Council of Lateran, 1215. 

Take away the imposture of transubstantiation, which 
sacrifices our blessed Lord every time the mass is cele- 
brated, and the grand essential of popery is destroyed. 

Jesus said, " I am the bread that came down from 
heaven." Who supposed when he said so to his disci- 
ples, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the 
flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have 
no life in you," that they thought of eating the actual 
substance of their Lord and Master ? 

Every one who takes the sacrament of mass is a 
Christoi^hagus or Christ-eater ! The taking away of the 
wine, or the holy cup from the people, is a novelty. 
This was sacriligiously done by Felix, a priest of Rome, 
in 490. After him Gelasius, a bishop, in the fifth century, 
pronounced it an impious sacrilege. 

The invocation of saints is a novelty. It was esta- 
blished in the ninth century. This is a vain imagination, 
for the saints are never represented in Scripture as 
objects for invocation. To regard such invocation they 
must be om.Tiipresent, an incommunicable attribute of 
God. Besides it is an idolatrous worship. 

The adoration of relics is a novelty. It was intro- 
duced about the time of the invocation of saints. Even 
at this day, there are exhibited in Romish churches 
the " Virgin's comb" and " locks of hair," " Peter's 
chair," the " rope with which Judas hung himself," the 
" dice used by the soldiers in casting lots," some of the 
"blossoms of Aaron's rod," "one of the fingers of the 
arm of St. Simon," a " drop of the Virgin's milk," " the 
spear and shield of Michael," some of the "tail" of 



30 Romanism a Human Invention. 

Balaam's ass, four " beads" of John the Baptist, and 
other wondrous relics. 

Among the relics still held in veneration in the Romish 
Church is the famous Proeputium D. IN". Jesu Christi, or 
the circumcision of the humanity of Christ, preserved in a 
small town, Loretto, twenty-five miles west of Rome, 
called Auguillara diocesis of Kepi. It is kept in a 
precious shrine, exposed to veneration in the church of 
its name, which is richly endowed by donations of several 
popes, sovereigns, and princes, etc. 

This poor town has for ages been the resort of deluded 
papist -pilgrims, to worship the "Holy House." It is 
said to be the very house of the " Holy Virgin," formerly 
standing at Xazareth. The pope gave, in a latin bull, 
an explanation of the remarkable change of place, saying 
that on a dark night angels carried the holy bouse from 
Nazareth, and set it down at Loretto ! This night was 
found to be the 10th December, 603, and the papists 
have a feast called " The Passage of the Holy House," 
in celebration of the event. 

The worshipers walk on their knees to the spot. There 
are two hundred wax lights burning day and night before 
the statue of the " Holy Virgin" and her Son. This 
statue is a piece of black wood, with two ugly heads, 
almost devoured by worms. It is the heathen god, Isis. 
The iron key, with which she locked the door when she 
went out on business, is on one side ; on the other side 
is the very wooden cup from which she drank. 

" The bones of St. Quietus," dug up in Rome and sent 
to the Romish priest in Hoboken, New Jersey, is now 
worshiped by the " faithful " here in the United States. 

Infallibility is a novelty. Gregory VH., in the eleventh 
century, the Coimcil of Lateran and that of Trent, 1660, 



Romanism a Human Invention. 31 

and Pighius, Albert, Gielser, Bellarmine, and other 
jDopish writers, and Clement VII., and popes down to the 
present tune, created the Pope infallible, because, as they 
say, he is in the place of " God," and he must of neces- 
sity be infallible. 

It is a fact well known, that at the council of Laterq,n 
in Rome, the four deputies from the city of Bitonti, in 
the kingdom of Naples, were admitted to an audience 
by Pope Leo X., and who, after kneeling three times be- 
fore the Pope, had to address him with these words in 
latin : " Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the 
world, have mei'cy upon us ;" " Lamb of God who taketh 
away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us;" " Lamb 
of God who taketh away the sins of the world, grant us 
thy peace ! " 

For this doctrine of the Pope's " infallibility," see the 
great popish writer Bellarmine, De Pontiff, Liber iv. Cap. 
3 and Cap. 5 ; the Canon Law in the Gloss, and a work, 
among others, in common use at Rome, called " Classical 
Books." 

Festivals and saints'' days are 2inovelty. They include, 
in Rome nearly all the days in the year. The " Feast 
of Candlemas," or Purification ; " Feast of the Ass," of 
" Lady Day," or the Annunciation ; of " All Saints and 
all Souls," and of "Vigil, or Wakes," and others, had 
their origin in the fourth century, and in subsequent 
periods.* 

Indulgence is a novelty. Boniface VIII., in the four- 
teenth century first introduced indulgence in these words : 
PcB?iarum remissiojiem, and Polydorc Virgil, f a famous 
Romish authority, says: "Then the use of pardons, 

* Buck's Theo. Die. 

t Polydore Virgil, Invent. Rerum lib. 8, cap. 1. 



32 Romanism a Human Invention. 

which they call Indulgence, began to be famous." This 
" Indulgence" is a capital and most artful device of the 
priest to get money. In granting " Indulgences," the 
priest gives absolute pardon of sins or absolution for the 
time specified, whether it is ten or fifty or a hundred 
days, or five, ten, or fourteen or fifty years ! In other 
words, like absolution in the " Confessional," they are a 
license for sin ; and as papists have permitted the priests 
to suborn their conscience, so they permit them to 
tax their parses ! But, " who can forgive sins but 
God?" 

AhsolviJig from an oath is a novelty. Gregory VII., 
1080, issued a decree against Henry lY., in which he 
uses these words : " I release all Christians from their oath 
of allegiance to him." Hallam, in his Middle Ages, says: 
" The most important and mischievous dispensation (con- 
tained among the forged decretals,) was that ivom. pro- 
missory oaths. ''^ Sismondi, in his history of the Italian 
Republics, furnished instances of this as a recognized 
and every-day practice. 

In the letters of an Independent Irishman, addressed 
to Bishop Fitzpatrick is the following passage : 

" Says Bishop Kenrick, ' No faith with heretics ;' and 
says Bishoj) O'Connor, of Pittsburgh, ' Religious liberty 
is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into 
execution without peril to the catholic world! ' " 

The use of holy water is a novdty. It was first estab- 
lished by Leo II., in the seventh century, that is, in the 
year 680. It was invented among other superstitious fan- 
cies, such as "tapers at noon day," and "charms" to keep 
off diseases, so that, "the stupid multitude were per- 
suaded that a portion of stinking oil taken from lamps 

* Moslieim. 



Romanism a Human Invention. 33 

which burned at the tombs of martyrs, had a super- 
natural efficacy to ward off dangers,"* In the same 
manner, the practice of crossing the forehead with holy 
water, of wearing the rosary or beads, to count the 
prayers said, is the invention of the priests to delude the 
devotions of simple papists. 

The name given to the pope^ calling him God is a nov- 
elty. Clement VII., 1523, and his cardinals in their 
letter to Charles, blasphemously declared that the domin- 
ion of God and the pojDes are the same.f 

Urban YI., 1095, established the dogma that no faith 
is to he kept with heretics^ which is a novelty. This dog- 
ma has been put in practice whenever Rome had the 
power to do it, from that period to this, by persecu- 
tions, etc.J 

The persecuting dogmas of popery are a novelty. 
Pope Innocent VII., in 1405, issued a bull " to crush the 
heretics like venemous asps." The oath which every 
Romish bishop takes, enacted by Pope Gregory VII., in 
1070, binds the bishop to persecute and make war 
against heretics or protestants, and all who differ from 
and reject the dogmas and superstitions of popery. 

The exterminating bull of Pope Alexander III., in 
1160, was in these words: "We, therefore, subject to a 
curse \hQ: perverseness of heretics {protestants).'''' 

The bull of Lucius III., in 1184, was in these words: 
"We condemn all manner of heresy and decree any lay- 
inen^ if he he heretic and disohedlent (to the pope), to 
condign punishment — that is, to tortures and death." Any 
one decree of a pope is always unchangeably in force, as 

* Mosheim Wilkes' Lives of the Popes. Ranke. 
t Troisard, torn. iii. p. 147. 
X Sisaiondi's History of Franco. 
•2-« 



34 Romanism a Human Invention. 

well as a dozen. The notes in the Rhemish Testament, 
sanctioned by the Romish bishops and clergy generally, 
declare the same persecuting tenets. In note on Luke 
ix. 55, it declares, that neither is the church of God (i. e. 
of Rome) blamed by God for putting heretics (protes- 
tants) to death ! 

In note on Heb. xiii. IT, it says : " When Rome puts 
heretics (protestants) to death — theii- blood is not of 
saints, nor is it more to be accounted of, than that of 
thieves, man-killers, or other malefactors."* 

Immaculate Conception is a human invention, a foiu* 
years old novelty of Pius IX. The pious belief of 
this dogma, is something old, ho^vever, since it was 
controverted between the dominicans and franciscans, 
from the time of Thomas Aquinas and John Duns 
Scotus, (thirteenth century,) but no pope until Pius 
IX., dared to enact it. This blasphemous mockery of 
creating the Virgin Mary a divinity^ is the last climax of 
popish imposture. 

The word of God says, that, " the wages of sin is 
death," and as Mary died, consequently, Mary was a sin- 
ner. Mary said, " My sj^irit hath rejoiced in God my 
Saviour." Xow, if Christ was her Saviour, she rejoiced in 
being redeemed from sin and saved in heaven. And yet 
the pope decrees that salvation or damnation depends on 
the belief or rejection, of this impious fiction. 

" Mother of God," used by the jDapists, is an ignorant 
ajDpellation. Mary, a creature, could not be the mother 
oi divinity. She was the mother of the human, not of 
the divine natm^e, — which would be an absurdity and an 
impossibility. 

We have now revealed before us this temj^le of Baby- 
* Bower's Lives of the Popes. Ranke. 



Romanism a Human Invention. 35; 

Ion. We see the periods when the scaffolding of this 
monstrous papal Juggernaut was reared by ambitious 
popes, and their subsequent emissaries, who assisted in 
raising the superstructure. 

Note. — We have now proved that the Pope of Rome is an usurper ; 
and that the whole edifice of the papal hierarchy rests on impostures, 
fictions, and pagan superstitions. The Holy Bible which contains the 
revealed will of God to mankind never alludes to a pope, to auricular 
confession, to purgatory, transubstaniiation, to saints, images, relics, or abso- 
lution from sin ; through outward works by any human priest or pre- 
late. Neither does it refer to inquisitions to punish the human race — 
nor of madonnas and plaster casts of Jesus Christ our Saviour, weeping 
and speaking in the churches of the pope. These are some of the 
reasons why the Holy Scriptures both in the Old and New Testament, 
is a " prohibited Book," and the reading of it punished by the hierarchy, 
as a mortal sin. 

Liguori, a canonized saint, teaches, that devotion to 3/a?'y is more 
beneficial than to Jesus ! His miraculous ladders wrought into an 
altar-piece at Milan, represents Mary at the head of one, helping her 
votaries into heaven, and our Saviour at the top of the other, whose 
worshippers are falling hack to the earth ! The canons and professors of 
Romish theology, admit, that the Virgin was more compassionate than 
our blessed Redeemer, (the only intercessor between God and man!) 
Seymour's " Mornings among the Jesuits at Rome," p. 46. Long 
before the Pope of Rome claimed or assumed the title of universal 
ruler of the world, there were two thousand ministers or bishops in 
the Christian world and over two hundred and forty millions of Chris- 
tians.* 

* Bishop Hopkins on the Primitive Church. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE EOMISH CONFESSIONAL. 

Cardinal Fleury — Jesuit Authors — Confessors seduce their Penitents — ^Maynooth's 
Class-Book — Pr'ests' Questions — Llorente— Mother Aguada — Begiiine Nuas — 
Barthelemi des Bois — Father Mena — Eicci— IS^uns of St. Catharine — Solicita- 
tions in the Confessional— Antiquities of Paris— Abbs Mengrat— Fenelon — 
Paul Courier— The Upholsterer's "Wife— Elizabeth Bavent— Girard and La 
Cadiere — Company of Jesus — Trial in France, 1843 — Sierbini — What is in the 
Holy Office — ^^The Confessional, how it endangers liberty— Escobar — Dalle— 
Cicisbeism — Muratori — Taxes on Sins— Sanchez — Eaymond — Saettler — Moulet 
— ^Abandoned Women — Bouvier — Politics — The President Assassinated, by or- 
der of a Eomish Bishop — ^La Confession— Coupee — Education — ^Marriage — Ee- 
served Cases — Eev. Pierce Connelly, former Eector of Trinity Church, Natchez. 

Cardinal Fleuey has justly said : " It is a species of 
falsehood to tell the truth by halves." Nobody is obliged 
to write history, but whoever undertakes it, is bound to 
tell the entire truth. If the manifestations of truth pro- 
duce scandal, it is lawful ; it is more useful to produce 
scandal then to avoid the defence of truth. To make 
the public feel the seriousness of the evil of Roman Ca- 
tholic confession, we do not vaguely make deprecatory 
charges, but shall give the textual terms of the maxims 
professed in Roman Catholic Works, so far as delicacy 
would permit. We further explicitly state — what no 
Romish bishop or j^riest in the United States dare 
deny — that every author from whom we quote, is ac- 
knowledged as authority by the Roman Catholic church 
throughout the world. Jesuits write and publish only 
by their society. 

In the Constitution of the Society of Jesus, part 7, ch. 
(36) 



The Romiili Confeffional. 37 

4, art. 11, p. 70, we fmd : "Whoever is endowed with 
the talent of writing books, conducive to the common 
good and shall compose any such ; nevertheless shall not 
publish them, except the General shall previously see 
them and subject them to the judgment and censure of 
others ; that if they shall seem good for edification, they 
may come before the public, and not otherwise." 

Now, Saint Thomas Aquinas says: " If a man knowingly 
read or retain, in print, or carry about in any w^ay what- 
soever, books containing the heresy of heretics and apos- 
tates, or treating of rehgion, he is excommunicated with 
an excommmiication reserved to the supreme Pontiff.''^ 
Dens, tom, vi, p. 307. But when confessors seduce their 
female penitents in confession, it is only necessaiy that 
she should change her confessor! The confessor, on the 
other hand, is not censurable in any degree, unless he 
falls oftener than " three or four times a month," when it 
becomes a reserved case for the archbishop or pope ! 
The Romish church explicitly denies that it co-operates 
with chastity : 

Ohj. He that makes a vow of chastity, vows not to 
co-operate with, or consent to any sin against chastity. 

Ans. That is denied.^ 

We find by the decrees of popes, the fathers and coun- 
cils, that sins were divided, subdivided and minutely 
specified, nay, many were imagined, that never had taken 
place in order to increase the power of the confessional. 
Whether in the United States, Avhere Komish priests dic- 
tate every day their orders and the opinions to which the 
people ought to submit, and where, as absolute masters 
of consciences, they command without control and with- 

* Ohj. Yovens castitatem vovet non co-opcrari aut consentire ulli 
peccato contra castitatoin. R. Id. Kegaiur Dena. tom. iv, p. 377. 



38 The Romifli Confeffional. 

out appeal ; they are not granting in their own names, as 
God, absolution to each other's victims, seduced through 
the immoral instruction which females receive at the con- 
fessional, is a question confidently submitted to the reader. 

The frequency of confession, and the facility of absolu- 
tion, renders the tribunal all the more dissolute. In 
Maynooth Class-Book, Tract de Matrimo, p. 482, a 
book which forms a part of the education of the priests 
in our country, Ave find questions of the most revolting 
character are submitted to married women, too horrible 
to be mentioned ; and to these direct questions on her 
mortal sins, she is compelled to give direct answers, " for 
if she refuse," says this authority, "it does not 
appear that she can be excused from that perverse obsti- 
nacy, which renders her unworthy of the benefit of abso- 
lution." " In every carnal sin, let the circumstance of mar- 
riage be expressed in confession. Are the manied at 

any time to be asked in confession etc. Ansio. 

Yes, particularly loomeii but the question is not 

to be put abruptly, but to be framed prudently; for 
instance, whether they have quarrelled vi\x\\ their hus- 
bands ; what was the cause of these quarrels, etc., 
etc.* 

" Prudent confessors are wont, and lay it down regu- 
larly, to ask from all young women gomg to be married 

etc. And since young women are more under 

the influence of modesty, we are wont for that reason to 
hear the betrothed husbands first etc."f 

The only principle of morality which we can find, after 
a thorough research into the papal imposture, is the 
zealous care with which the church studies to avoid scwi- 

* Dens, torn, vii, p. 150. f Dens, torn, v, pp. 239-40. 



The Romifli Confeffional. 39 

(laljand. as the confessional gives to the priest so thorough 
a knowledge of the character of his victims, very little 
comparatively is ever betrayed. Hence, we find that 
even when a confessor has fallen oftener "than three 
or four times" in a month, which constitutes a reserved 
case, he receives no censure, but a simple negation of 
jurisdiction : so, in fact, the practice of seduction, is 
winked at by the Romish clergy. " Wherefore," says 
Dens, (tom. vi, p. 287) : " Carnal sin wdth a novice, or a 
nun, or any other, bound by a simple vow of chastity, 
does not constitute a reserved case, nor is a religious 
man or priest comprehended, (in the reserved case,) so 
that a free woman, (query, lay women,) transgressing with 
a religious priest, does not incur this case (of reserva- 
tion)." Here we see, that the priest (provided he is reli- 
gious,) may be a jDcrfect libertine. 

It is impossible to give the reader a correct idea of the 
immoral trash which they blasphemously teach as the- 
ology, but whoever w^ill follow us through these pages 
shall learn enough of the sad story of the Papal impost- 
ors, and. out of their own books they may judge whether 
" confession opens the gate of heaven," as they say 
Saint Chrysostom vauntingly asserts. Llorente observes, 
" A woman, young and weak, gives, by the confession of 
the faults she has committed against the sixth (seventh) 
precept in the Decalogue, the most frequent opportunity 
for the attempt of which the confessor becomes guilty." 
Tliis respectable ecclesiastic had had in his hands the 
proc^s-verbeau of the acts and judgments pronounced by 
the Inquisition of Spain, of which he was for a long time 
secretary. We will relate a few facts from his unquestion- 
ably authentic testimony : 

In the Carmelite Convent, in the city of Lerma, in 



40 The Romifli Confeffional. 

1712, a girl of noble family, born at Corello, took the 
veil. For twenty years she intrigued with the provincial 
and other friars, and on account of her ecstacies, im- 
postures and miracles, her accomi^lices determined to 
build her a convent ! Mother Aguada, the name of this 
abbess, lived the most vicious life, while her reputation 
for sanctity so increased every day that people flocked to 
her from neighboring countries to seek her intercession 
wdth God ! 

The man who seduced this girl into every excess of 
corruption and fanaticism, was a provincial monk of the 
bare-legged Carmelite order. His name was Juan de la 
Vega. " He had been," says Lloreute, " the spiritual 
director and accomplice of Mother Aguada, was thirty- 
live years old, and at his trial, evidence appeared that he 
had had five children by her. His conversation had cor- 
rupted other nuns, by making them believe that what he 
advised them to do was genuine virtue. He had written 
his life of Mother Aguada, and spoken of her as a model 
of sanctity." 

A niece of this Mother Aguada entered her convent at 
the age of nine years, and soon was this child instructed 
in her evil doctrines. The lesson was successful, and on 
the trial of her aunt before the Holy Inquisition, she 
revealed the whole of her guilt, saying she thought all 
she had done was lawful, as her aunt and her confessor 
so taught her, and she had the highest opinion of their 
virtue, as Mother Aguada was called a saint ! " We 
see," says Llorente, " extreme moderation in the inquisi- 
tors when there is any question about punishing the 
prodigious number of infanticides committed by the 
monks and nuns at the Convent of Corello, of which 
Aguada was foundress." If the witnesses are to be 



The Romlfli Confeffional. 41 

believed, there Avere not less thau twenty attempts at 
abortion, and more than thirty murders committed upon 
infimts after birth, several of whom were not baptized. 
But unparalleled as was the case, the Holy Office dis- 
played its graciousness and mercy, so often vaunted in 
its decrees.* 

On the same page, Llorente, whose sincerity and 
honesty on this subject is beyond all question, remarks, 
" Since the Inquisition meddles with what passes in con- 
vents, it is surj^rising that, after so many irregularities of 
this kind, with Avhich its archives are filled, but of which 
decency does not permit us to give an account, it has not 
resolved to deprive monks of the direction of the con- 
vents of women.'? 

We find an account in Llorente's book of a Capuchin 
friar who was a spiritual director and adviser of an esta- 
blishment of seventeen Beguine nuns in Spanish America, 
and who corrupted thirteen of that number. He made 
these blessed nuns to understand that Jesus Christ had 
appeared in the very act of confession, in the consecrated 
wafer, and directed him to tell the " nun before him that 
she could sin with her confessor, and then she should 
have a dispensation from Him, and must never speak 
of it, even to another confessor, to avoid scandal." 
The friar further told her that Jesus Christ had direct- 
ed this that she might grow in holiness ! So the 
thirteen were severally destroyed, and " as to the 
confessor," says Llorente, " the Inquisition feared to 
put him in its prisons for his outrage on these women 
(forced to be nuns in spite of themselves), as it would 
show that the Holy Office interferes with the convents, 

* See Llorente's Historie de 1' Inquisition d' Espagne, torn. iv. p. 33, 
et seq. 



42 The Romifh Confeffional. 

wliich tliey wish to keep concealed, so they merely 
shipped him to another convent at Madrid !" 

In a work called " Causes Celebres," par Richter, t. xi., 
p. 74, two remarkable trials, the result of the confessional, 
are recorded. " The College of Jesuits," says this author, 
" had property in Caparacena, two leagues from Grenada, 
entrusted to friar Barthelemi des Bois. This Jesuit 
became enamored with a man's wife, and determined to 
possess her. He employed her husband in cultivating 
the lands, and doubled his wages, that he might accom- 
plish his wish. The husband becoming jealous and 
suspicious, concealed himself in the house, and so man- 
aged to surprise the guilty priest, and put him to death. 
The civil law allowed a man this right after he had heard 
the criminal conversation with his wife, but the rector 
of Grenada preferred a complaint for the murder of the 
Jesuit, and the witnesses heard on the husband's side 
were compelled to retract ! The wife was proved to be 
aged, though she was but twenty-eight, and the case was 
so managed, that the poor husband was condemned and 
hung ! To the honor of the jdIous and chaste confessor, 
the Jesuits had the trial, thus purged, printed, together 
with the definite judgment. 

Father Mena was another Jesuit, who wore a thread- 
bare dress and a large chaplet. He used to confess a 
simple-hearted girl at Salamanca. He told her, one day, 
that God had revealed that she must become the con- 
fessor's wife ! The innocent girl did not enter the snare 
at that moment, but consulted the doctors of the Uni- 
versity, (as father Mena knew she would, and whom he 
had already acquainted with his design,) and they told 
her simply to follow the advice of her confessor. The 
devotee thought it was the will of heaven, and married 



I 



The Romifli Confeffional. 43 

her confessor. He went on as before with all his external 
acts of piety. He had several children by his wife, whom 
he kept shut up in a lonely spot at hand. This Jesuit 
father was at length denounced to the Inquisition. The 
Jesuits undertook his defence, and finding the case so 
well proved, they resorted to artifice to save him. Phy- 
sicians certified he was ill ; and thus they got him trans- 
ferred to the college of the Inquisition, to be cured! 
They then pretended he was dead ; and made a figure of 
wood, with hands and feet of pasteboard, dressed in the 
Jesuit garb ; put it on a bier ; the bells were tolled, and 
every ceremony gone through for the burial of the effigy. 

In the meantime, the real father Mena, mounted on a 
mule, had hurried to Genoa, where he openly taught the 
laws of Moses to the Jews ! 

Ricci, bishop of Pistoia, left in possession of his family, 
the facts, acts, correspondence, and orders of the Grand 
Duke of Leopold concerning the confessional in the con- 
vents of Tuscany. M. de Potter, to whom the whole 
was communicated, has published them in a work, called, 
**Vie de Scipion de Ricci, erequedo Pistoie et Prato." 
The scandalous conduct practised by the monks in those 
convents were made known by six nuns, who petitioned 
Leopold on the subject. " I do not state anything," says 
Ricci, " of which I have not proofs." We here find that 
the monks passed their time in the private cells of the 
nuns, and the grossest libertinism prevailed in all the 
convents. The Jesuit who first practised his familiarities^ 
would tell the nuns they did a virtuous action in submit- 
ting to what was repugnant to them ! 

The nuns in the convent of Saint Catharine of Pistoia, 
stated the infamous practices of their confessors and 
superiors. These men kept keys and entered the cham- 



44 The Romifli Confeffional. 

bers of the nims just when it suited them. Such as 
allowed themselves to be led by the comisels of these 
confessors, were gratified in every whim and caprice, 
and others were obliged to outrage their consciences 
by the same course, or undergo an endless persecu- 
tion. In the report of the wardens of the same con- 
vent, it is stated, that when the confessors went to 
administer consolation to the dying, they would eat 
and sleep in the convent, and dine with whom they 
pleased. This was the practice of every father and 
prior, who successively performed the duties. Their 
maxim was, that God has forbidden hatred and not love ! 
" \Yithout a miracle," says the prioress of the convent 
Peroccini, " no one can frequent their company without at 
length yielding to this species of diabolical temptation. 
The priests are the husbands of the nuns, and the lay- 
brothers of the lay-sisters." 

A certain nun, when solicited by her confessor, said, " I 
testified to him the fenr and scruples which they excited 
within me." He replied, " I must tell you plainly, you 
are a precious simpleton; follow my advice, you will 
thank me for my lessons, and your scruples will cease." 

These facts are scandalous, but for this reason they 
should not be concealed from the public. Under a pre- 
text of religion, these iniquities are practised and pro- 
voked ! It is time the people of our country had more 
light upon these offences. 

Let it be fully understood that all this sin and shame 
has been brought about by the confessional in the convents. 
Can you see, then, any difference between them and 
those of the j^resent day founded in our land, and under 
the same authority ? If there be a country where the 
people should be free from such outrages as these de- 



The Romiih ConfelTional. 43 

basing institutions, ought it not to be the United States 
of America ? 

Jose M. Samper, an editor and representative of the 
people of New Grenada, a jRoman Catholic himself^ 
writes, in 1858, of the dissolute character of the Romish 
priesthood in Spanish America : " We can affirm that 
the great majority of the ISTew Grenada clergy, begin- 
ning with the convents of Bogota, and many of the secular 
ministers of this city, live in permanent concubinage^ 
scandalizing society. We have seen a curate go out with 
his concubine, leading his children under an umbrella, to 
administer the eucharist to the sick, half dressed, with- 
out pantaloons. We have known many curates with large 
families of acknowledged children. We have known 
curates destroy innocent women, by taking advantage 
of their office. We have hnown a curate who, having a 
daughter, had progeny also by her, and \»y \^\^ grand- 
daughter ; and another who has a family by his sister," 
etc., etc., etc. 

If such are the dissolute practices of Romish theologi- 
ans in the southern parts of our continent, who can 
doubt that the same course of libertinism is secretly 
taking place every day in the United States ? 

This seduction of women through the confessional is 
peculiar to no country : it is common to all — and must be 
from the unchanging nature of the Romish system. 

In the Antiquities de Paris, in the time of Cardinal 
legate Jacques de Vitre, it is stated that priests made 
no scruples in going from an intrigue to say mass. 

Clemagis, a secretary to pope Benedict XIII., wrote 
of the convents in 1430. " The bishops of France," said 
he, " permit curates, for a certain contribution, to keep 
concubines ; and the canons bring up publicly the child- 



46 The Romifh Confeffional. 

ren of those whom they keep as then- own wives. As to 
the convents of women, there is now no difference be 
tween making a yomig girl take the veil, and exposing 
her to the greatest degradation." 

This work contains the most revolting and atrocious 
facts : we will state a few. 

The newspapers had spoken of the priest, Rouhignae 
who used to invite young girls to his house, and fascinated 
one at the age of nineteen so far, that he covered her 
body with hair-cloth furnished with iron points, and re- 
duced her thus almost to death, for the purpose of his 
own base actions. This infimous priest found a welcome 
asylum after this, in the Jesuit house at Toulouse ! The 
next abominable case to which we turn in those pages, 
is that of Abbe Mingrat. He was zealous for good works. 
He would not allow so much as a bare arm to appear 
at church, and was anxious to establish the jDurity of tlie 
ancien regime ! To this end, he had a school in the 
house of his aunt, for young girls, in which he j^repared 
them for mass. Presently two of them, attracted his 
attention. He invited them to his house. They went 
singly, or together. One of these girls, the only daughter 
of President de Xeuilly, a girl of fourteen, became a 
mother ! The father brought an action, but the priest 
only laughed, and the clergy interfered ; and in spite of 
the French parliament, president, and daughter, he was 
created by the pope. Bishop of Senlis ! 

Here is another case. Forty years since, some young 
ladies were educated in a convent, near Nogent-le- 
Rotron, under a saintly pretre-abbes, who confessed, 
catechised, and taught them. It was discovered that he 
had corrupted several of the girls, and when there was any 
prospect of detection, he poisoned the one M-hose situa- 



The Romifh Confeffional. 47 

tion might expose him, and then Avatched her, and kept 
every one away, under pretense of confession or dying 
exhortations, never leaving her till she was dead, coffined 
and bm-ied. 

Abbe Mingrat now occupied another field, and we 
find him entering the house of a turner, whose wife was 
one of his devotees. But she was reputed virtuous and 
it made no scandal. One evening she came rather late 
to confess and after detaining her a long while, he sent 
her to his aunt's. He took a diiferent direction and arriv- 
ing there before her, compelled her to enter. No one 
can tell what occurred, except that she w^as subsequently 
taken out dead, and her body tlirown into the river Isere. 

These fragments floated and were one by one picked 
up and the body recognized, as well as the bloody knife 
left in the grotto. Then it was at once remembered that 
he was the seducer of President de Neuilly's daughter, etc. 

What think you reader then happened, the case was 
fully stated, and all the flicts published, in spite of the 
clergy. But, the church was determined to save him. 
The Grand-Yicar of Grenoble, Abbe Bochard preached 
upon rash judgment saying, " Brethren beware ! Such a 
one may appear guilty who is obliged by his honor and 
life to remain silent upon the crimes of another, and in- 
sinuated that the woman's husband had committed the 
murder, and the confessor Mingrat, was the martyr to 
the secrecy of the confessional ! " The proof was too reful- 
gent, and the criminal, though known to be Mingrat, 
could not be touched ; for they held that he was, the 
" Lord's anointed." 

* It is well known, that the priests in cases of murder in this 
country, have refused to depose as witnesses under our civil laws : 
alleging tho secrecy of the confessional. 



4-8 The Romilli Confeffional. 

" Should a priest happen," says Fenelon, " to commit a 
fault, people ought modestly to cast down their eyes and 
remain sUent." This has been, and ever will be their maxim, 
in every age, and every country. Paul Courier has de- 
scribed in the most animated manner, and with most logi- 
cal reasoning, the dangers of priestly confession. "What 
a life," he exclaims, " is that of a priest ! What a condi- 
tion ! Love and especially marriage are forbidden, yet 
women are given up to them ! They may not have one, 
but they may live familiarly with all. This is but little ; 
but their confidence, their intimacy, their secrecy of 
their private actions, of all their thoughts, is given 
to him. The innocent little girl, hears from the 
first, the priest, Avho soon calling her, converses Avdth her 
apart; who, first, before she-can err, speaks to her of sin. 
When schooled, he marries her; when married he still 
confesses and governs her. He precedes the husband 
in her affections, and ever stands his ground. What 
she does not confide to her mother, or avow to her hus- 
band, a priest must know ; he demands and knows it ; 
yet will he not be her lover. Indeed, how could he be ? 
Is he not in holy orders ? He hears a young woman 
whispering to him her faults, feelings, wishes, weak- 
nesses ; he inhales her sighs, without feeling any emo- 
tion ; and he is five-and-twenty ! " * 

" The pope pardons everything in priests but marriage ; 
and would rather have them unchaste adulterers, de- 
bauched assassins, like Mingrat, than married. Mingrat 
kills his mistress ; he is defended from the pulpit ; here, 
they preach for him ; here, they canonize him ; but if 
he married one — what a monster ! He would never find 
an asylum. 

* "U'iJl American men weigh well these sentences. 



The Romifli ConfeflionaL 



49 



"I^ow, reflect and see if it be possible ever to combine 
in the self-same j)erson two more contrary things than 
the duty of the confessor and the vow of chastity. What 
must be the fate of these poor young men, between the 
prohibition of possessing what nature impels to love and 
the obhgation of conversing intimately, confidentially, 
with the objects of their loves ?" 

" But why does a man turn priest, some will say, when 
he is susceptible of such impressions. Do you think they 
make themselves what they are ? They are brought up 
from infancy by the papal mihtia ; they are seduced and 
enhsted ; they pronounce that abominable vow never to 
have a wife or a family before they understand it ; other- 
wise they ought to be seized and transported to some 
desert island. Girls and women are given up to them to 
govern! These thousands of priests have the gift of 
continency vested in their go^vns, and are henceforth as 
if they had no longer either sex or bodies ! Do you 
credit it ?" 

The trial of Elizabeth Bavent, a nun of the Convent of 
Saint Elizabeth de Louvieres, seduced in the tribunal 
of confession, is very remarkable for the immoral and 
superstitious character it presents of the priesthood. She 
was early initiated, and became a nun at the turning box. 
She was handed over to two confessors, and they both 
taught her that no immoral action she could commit 
through the confessional, was contrary to piety and relig- 
ion. She was irreproachable in her conduct imtil the 
age of twelve years, when she entered the convent of 
Saint Francis on account of her devotional turn of mind ; 
but was soon hurried away by her boundless confidence 
and blind submission to her confessors. She, at the sug- 
gestion of Picard, her villainous confessor, made a dona- 
3 



50 The Romifh Confeffional. 

tion of her body to the devil ! In describing the position 
in which she was kept, she says : " No one in the house 
was ignorant of that man's attachment to me ; of his 
privacy, or of my frequent visits to his room, at his in- 
stance. . . . But the nuns turned a deaf ear, and would 
never allow me to go and confess elsewhere ; though I 
entreated them in the hope that an honest man might 
find a remedy for my poor conscience and tell me what I 
had to do." Her tranquility and resignation under the 
inflictions of her confessor and the nuns, is very astonish- 
ing. They refused her the most necessary things of life ; 
which she bore unmoved, thinking her faults deserved 
" she should be in hell." " They refused me even a bit 
of linen, says she, to put to my ulcerated breast, and I 
heard the superior say, -with my own ears, ''Let the wretch 
die if she will!'' " After being made the victim of the 
inhuman bishop, who had been her confessor for fifteen 
months, he pronounced sentence agamst her on the calum- 
nious testimony of a nun — by which she was made pris- 
oner all her life — ^being compelled to fast three days in the 
week on bread and water. 

Poor Bavent was put in prison, first for four days in a 
subterraneous dungeon, a horrible place, on the testimony 
of another debauched nun. On being delivered from the 
dungeon, she gave up to despair and stabbed herself. 
Reduced by the loss of blood, she became extremely 
veak ; her wound festered in her body, but all the rem- 
edy she used was a little cold water, having nothing else. 
>he asked repeatedly for a confessor, but was always 
efused. Three days after this attempt upon her life, she 
;yot some glass, ground it, and swallowed it by degrees, 
taking nothing else for days, in order to hasten her death. 
" No one could ever imagine all I endured," says Ba- 



The RomiOi Confeffional. 51 

vent, " during my imprisonment at Evreux, which lasted 
five years ; three and a half of which I passed in the 
dungeons, either in the cellar or above. There I fasted 
ray three appointed days on bread and water, without 
mercy, and I was badly enough fed on the other days. 
I was taken out three or four times more dead than alive ; 
and at times of despair, I went five times, seven days, 
without eating or drinking. They ordered me to be 
visited by divers physicians and surgeons, four times at 
least, ha\dng inflicted on me rather violent torments ; 
and my head being pricked about and covered with blood 
and swelled like a bushel. For a long time no one came 
near me or spoke to me, and M. de Louchemp, (the con- 
fessor they had given her, who declared against her,) even 
kept, by order of M. de Evreux, the keys of my dungeon, 
fearing lest the turnkeys should give me a little air. The 
filthy state of my dungeon was insupportable. All I say 
is true. I cannot say all. But what afflicted me still 
more, was my sufiering conscience, which they did not 
attempt to relieve ; for I asked for a confessor a hundred 
times, but could obtain no other than the penitentiary, 
whom I could not endure." 

The guilty confessors triumphed over this seduced 
victim, as usual, and the girl sufiered the extreme penalty 
of their vengeance !* 

* Professor Morse furnishes the following testimony of a French 
Jesuit: "As soon as the young girl — fori speak pecuharly of their 
confession — enters the confessional, ' Bless me, father/ she says, 
kneehng and crossing herself, 'for I have sinned,' and the priest 
mumbles, ' Dominus sit in ore tuo et in corde,' etc. — ' The Lord be iu 
your heart and hps, that you may confess all your sins.' (This con- 
fession amounts to nothing, for it becomes a mere listless habit.) If 
she is an ugly, common country girl or woman, she is soon dispatched ; 



52 The Romish Confeffional. 

Ricliter, in his work ou the Causes Celthres et Interes- 
sanies, p. 11, gives an account of a law-suit, the most 
noted affair of the kind that ever occupied the tribunal 
of the kingdom : 

" All Europe resounded with the names of Girard 
and La Cadiere ; all Europe read the writings published 
on both sides; everybopv awaited the sentence with 
impatience ; it astonished everybody, and nobody was 
satisfied." 

This notoriety arose from the accused being of the So- 
ciety of Jesus. The Jesuits follow their policy strictly, 



but, on the contrary, if she is pretty and fair, the holy father puts him- 
self at ease ; he examhies her in the most secret recesses of her soul ; 
he unfolds her mind in every seme, in every manner, upon every matter. 
This is the way which theology recommends us to follow in our inter- 
rogations : ' Daughter, have you had bad thoughts ? On what subject ? 
How often ? etc. Have you had bad desires ? What desires ? Have you 
committed bad actions? With whom? What actions?' etc. lam 
obliged to stop. Many times the poor, ashamed girl does not dare 
answer the questions, they are so impure. In that case, the holy man 
says to her: 'Listen, daughter, to the true doctrine of the Church ; you 
must confess the truth, all the truth, to your spiritual father. Do you 
know that I am in the place of God ; that you cannot deceive Him ? 
Speak, then, reveal your heart to me, as God knows it. Will you 
not ? Yes. Begin; I will help you ;' and then begins such a diaboli- 
cal explanation as is not to be found but in houses of infamy, I sup- 
pose, or in our theological books. This is so well knoTsoi, that I have 
often heard of wicked young men saying to each other, ' Come, let us 
go to confession, and the curate will teach us a great many corrupt things 
which we never knew;' and many young girls have told me in confes- 
sion that, in order to become acquainted with details on those matters, 
pleasing to their corrupt nature (and ruined morals), they went pur- • 
pcsely to the confessional, to speak about it to their spiritual father." 



The Romifli Confeffional. 53 

never to leave one of their order in trouble, Tlaese men 
are the embodiment of cunning, immorality and hypoc- 
risy ; they are enteri^rising, audacious, greedy of domin- 
ion, and skillful in using the confession to rule the minds 
of men, to corrupt women and to enrich themselves. 
Father Girard was an exceedingly homely Jesuit ; yet he 
had singular power in foscinating women. In this way, 
by great profession of sanctity, his influence increased, 
until he was made rector of the royal Seminary of the 
Xevay, at Toulouse. Maria Catharine Oadiere was born 
in 1709, and was the daughter of a devout widowed 
mother. She was handsome, her figure was fine, her 
neck beautiful, with a fair comj)lexion, dark eyes and 
hair, and an animated countenance. Her education was 
defective ; and she was more than twenty-one before she 
could write. Father Girard seeing that she loved praise 
and was inclined to be a saint, improved her taste by the 
ascetic books which he put into her hands. He directed 
her to quietism^ as an infallible means of success. Finally 
he pursued his practices, until he told her she must look 
on him as God, and submit to whatever he required of 
her. He was at the same time enticing other girls, 
through the confessional, and one of them was soon to be 
a mother. This Jesuit soon persuaded the public that 
La Cadiere performed miracles, as well as himself. 
In a word, he having sacrificed her to his licentiousness, 
wanted to sacrifice her to his ambition, by securing a 
reputation for making saints. 

It now became necessary for La Cadiere to lay her 
complaint before the lieutenant of Toulon. The bishop 
forbade all the confessors from hearing Cadiore, until she 
retracted all her charges against father Girard 1 She 
was made to drink salted \\ine to efiect this, while 



54 The Romifti Confeffional. 

she remained in her mind steadfast to what she first 
stated. Every thing Jesuitical ingenuity could devise was 
brought against that nun on the trial ; and the Jesuits so 
managed, that every witness was first instructed by them, 
as to the mode of deposing; they suborned witnesses 
against her, and silenced her own. The disconsolate 
mother of the nun, seeing her overwhelmed by such 
powerful influences, addressed four petitions — to Cardinal 
de Fleury, to the Chancellor, to the Keeper of Seals, and 
the Secretary of State. 

Xot one of these petitions availed her anything. The 
seducer of her daughter continued his career of vice, 
continued all his sacred duties and his preaching, attended 
by the bishop, and the official, his judge, while the poor 
girl was shut up in the monastery, under the direction 
of another Jesuit, Avho was subject to Girard. The 
mother sent another petition to Cardinal de Fleury, 
stating these facts and appealed to his intercession ; but, 
not one word did she hear from him. In fact, the Jesuits 
had turned the whole testimony of the nuns and others 
in the convent against Cadiere, and in favor of Girard, on 
pain of torture, with which they were threatened ! In 
one of Girard's letters to the abbess of the convent at 
Toulon, he made this request: "Let the young lady 
write home, without her letters being read, and my 
answers returned to her without being seen." Then, he 
would give two letters to his messenger, one of which 
contained only spiritual counsel, to pass through the 
hands of the abbess, if she should require it; the other, 
with his true sentiments, to go direct into the hands of 
his penitent. These letters he afterwards took back from 
the nun, retaining her own, which he refused to give up, 
as containing secrets of conscience. 



The Romifli Confeffional. ^^ 

The definite conclusion of the parquet was to the 
effect that La Cadiere had abused religion and counter- 
feited the saint, and afterwards the possessed, for which 
she was ordered to be given over to the hands of the 
executioner to be hanged at Place des Prechems; after 
first being put to extraordinary torture to extort more 
about the accomplices of her crime. But the court 
finally rendered sentence on the accused parties. The 
Jesuit got off with impunity ; the girl was not hanged, 
the decision being revoked, and she was sent home to her 
mother. 

On leaving the prison she was called upon by the dis- 
tinguished people of the place, and earnestly congratu- 
lated on her safety. Jesuit hatred could not endure this, 
and she was ordered to leave the town of Aix the same 
day, by. the authorities. But she suddenly disappeared, 
and no one ever could tell what became of her. 

This diabolical combination for the purpose of main- 
taining the honor of the priesthood and of the confession, 
should be a warning to us all. 

Another instance of popish tyranny resulting from the 
confessional, may be seen in the trial which occurred in 
the court of Assizes of Vienne, in France, the 18th No- 
vember, 1843. 

Nine nuns and two novices were accused of forcibly 
detaining and ill-treating a young woman named Gene- 
vieve in the conventof the Good Shepherd. The nuns ap- 
peared in the court attired in their convent dress, with 
sanctimonious demeanor. To add to the blasphemous 
character of these women, they had assumed the names 
of the Mother of the Saviour, the Mother of Mercy, the 
Mother of the Holy Spirit, the Mother of Charity, etc. 



56 The Romifli Confeflional. 

In the course of tlie trial a number of the most respect- 
able witnesses testified to having frequently heard ago- 
nizing cries of distress proceeding from the convent. 

The surgeon and six witnesses testified as to the girl's 
condition on her release. " I attended her," said the 
physician, " and found bruises on her chest, and a sore on 
her side as large as the palm of my hand." 

Genevieve appeared in court so ill that she had to be 
supported by two persons, and made oath to the follow- 
ing statement : 

" Not being able to bear the regulations of the con- 
yent, I often demanded to quit it ; I was told that I must 
remain there a year at least. One day, when I was very 
sick, I wished to retire from the class ; the Mother of the 
Saviour would not permit me. The Mother of the Holy 
Spirit and the Mother of Charity dragged me by the 
hair, and the Mother of the Seraphim beat me. At 
another time I could not repeat my lesson, I was taken to 
a dungeon. I had then been three weeks in the convent, 
and was told I should never quit it. On the 25th of 
July, the Mother of the Saviour came to tell me I must 
rise, and dragged ofi" the bed clothes; she took me by 
the hair and severely kicked me. I was dragged by the 
arm from one end of the dormitory to the other. Many 
threw themselves on me, and I was dragged down to the 
dungeon. I know not what occurred as they dragged 
me to the dungeon, for I fointed. When I recovered I 
found myself in the dungeon, strij^ped of my clothes. 
The Mother of the Saviour and the Mother of St. 
Matthew tied my arms behind my back. The Mother 
of Mercy then kicked me several times. I continued in 
the dungeon from Tuesday until Thursday. I was after- 
wards taken to the convent door and left on the stejDS. 



The Romilli Confeffional 5^ 

A woman, wlio passed bv, pitied me, and took me to the 
house of Madame Piat, who i^rocured me admittance to 
the hospital, where I yet remain," 

The nuns and their doctor were the only witnesses 
called for the defence, and they escaped as guiltless, ex- 
cept the Mother of Mercy, who was sentenced to three 
months' imprisonment. 

In 1849, when the Republic of Rome threw open the 
doors of the Inquisition, L. De Sanctis* says : " With 
Sterbmi we went to this horrible place to examine the 
papers. We came to ten great volumes full of denunci- 
ations made by confessors; and often had the artful 
priest employed his ferocious eloquence in persuading the 
dying men to denounce their friends. In this manner were 
denomiced nearly all the pohtical men in the Roman 
States. In the closet of the Inquisition was found a 
letter written by Cardinal Bernetti, in 1828, begging the 
father commissory, in the name of the Pope, to aid in 
finding out a conspiracy which the police had foiled to 
detect. Appended to this letter was the decision of the 
Inquisition, that the confessional was the best means to 
effect such discoveries. The Holy Office, however, beg- 
ged the Pope not to allow a confessor to absolve a con- 
spirator until he had denounced the persons to their tri- 
bunal ; which was done. We came," says this author, 
"to another shelf containing revelations, as they are called, 
respecting solicitations to evil. We turned over the 
leaves of these numerous volumes filled wdth horrible 
crimes : here a confessor had seduced a whole convent of 
nuns by means of confession, and had a greater part of 
them mothers ; there, a confessor at the institution called 

* Fonnerly Curate of the Magdalene, Professor of Theology in the 
Roman University, and Qualificator of the Inquisition. 
3^" 



58 The Romifh ConfefTional. 

Conservatory of Divine Providence, under the mask of 
piety, had ruined sixteen of the most beautiful young 
girls ; and of similar facts there were thousands. 

" I recollect, besides, the case of a confessor who had 
been accused seventeen times of solicitations to evil, but 
had never been punished, because he was a most zealous 
accuser of sectaries and heretics."* (p. 255.) 

" Penitents, in accusing themselves of their own sins, 
reveal several sins that are foreign to them : men, what 
relates to their wives ; wives to their husbands ; servants 
what concerns their masters ; masters things relating to 
their servants, and so on ; one against another."! 

Women have always been used as the best instruments 
for revealing what they knew, as their devotion to their 
confessor, whom they look upon as God, will not allow 
them to refuse him anything. This intimate confidence 
leads to every immoral act, without tclat. This was well 
imderstood by the long experience of those men who made 

* It is the duty of the subordinates in the Roman Catholic Church to 
reveal to the superiors whatever facts and sins by which benefit wiU 
accrue to the Church. Every parish priest in the United States reports 
weekly to the bishop of his diocese the progress of his work for the 
Church, in all particulars ; also, the feeling and action of Protestants 
towards them. These reports are then transmitted to the Pope, when, 
they are duly recorded and alphabeticaUy arranged, and become the 
subject of dehberation as to the next edict in the premises. It is in 
this way that the moral, social and political character of our countrj' is 
penetrated, and the Pope made familiar with the secrets of American 
famihes in connection isith the government of the country. There ia 
not a political office, from a petty municipality to the Presidency of the 
RepubUc, that is not thus interfered with. This mode of exposing the 
secrets of theu- neighbors, as well as the penitent's own, is fatal to Uberty 
but good for the Church. 

f See S. Toletanus, Instruct Sacerdot, ad Pooenit, tom. iii.,.c. 6, art. 3. 



I 



The Romifh Confeffional. 59 

the system of confession. Thus Escobar quotes numer- 
ous facts, wliich he says he had known of this kind ; 
among others, that of a confessor who had an intimacy 
with three girls and their mother, having seduced them 
at the tribunal of confession. 

Mr. Mahoney, a Romish priest, when examined before 
a Committee of the House of Commons, in England, on 
the Mortmain Acts, stated that a " very nefarious use 
was made by convents, and by other parties having the 
patronage of certain marriage portions, which dying sen- 
sualists are urged to give in reparation for their sins. 
The consequences were anything but satisfactory to lovers 
of decency. 

How many of the successive generations of found- 
lings are due to this system cannot be estimated, especi- 
ally, as "all these girls who chose nunneries are en- 
titled to dower in preference to those w^ho merely ask 
it to marry." In other words, a woman, instead of 
being allowed to return to virtue, is seduced into a con- 
vent to live in sin with the bishop and other confessors. 
It is not human to place a priest where he is allowed to 
fall, and suppose him innocent. Reader, commit your 
daughter to the soldier or hussar, who can marry her, 
rather than to a Romish priest. 

Another scandal which should be mentioned in connec- 
tion with confession, is that denominated cicisbeism^ a 
custom which is particularly practised among the higher 
classes in Italy, especially in Rome, Florence and ISTaples. 

^ See Escobar. Tracta de Confess. Sclec, in exordio. 



6o The Romilh Confeffional. 

This mode of adultery is oj^enly practised iu tlie sight 
of EuroiDe, and has been for more than two centuries. 
A husband and wife observe the laws of marriage 
during the first year, but it is a thing, of course, that 
after this period the wife takes a lover under the name 
of cicisbeo, and the husband becomes the cavaliere 
servoite of another woman. This sinful practice is 
authorized by the priests, who constantly give absolu- 
tion to the persons who present themselves at a con- 
fessional ; and this not once a year, but ten or twelve 
times a year, if devotion induces the guilty parties to 
enjoy the benefits of the grace attached to this sacra- 
ment. Such are the fruits of this confession, so beneficial 
to morals !* 

That the reader may better understand the fatal efi'ects 
of cicisbeism, we quote an author who presents its conse- 
quences : " The peace of fiimilies," says Sismondi, " was 
banished from all Italy ; no husband any longer regarded 
his wife as a faithful companion, associated with his ex- 
istence; no man any longer found in her a support in 
adversity, a saviour in danger, a comforter in despair ; 
no father durst aflirm that the children who bore his 
name were his own, and no one any longer felt himself 
tied to his child by the sentiments of nature. Incessantly 
annoyed in his own house by the friend of his wife, and 
separated from a part of his family, pent up in convents, 
he was considered only as the administrator of his for- 
tune ; and it was not because women had lovers, but 
because it became a law that they must have them, that 
the Italians ceased to be men."f 

It was m the general council of Lateran that Innocent 

« C. P. De Lastevi-ie on Auricular Confession, p. 264. 
t Sismondi, Hist, des Repub. d' Ital. 



The Roniifli Confeffional. 6l 

III. established sacerdotal confession, and caused the cus- 
tom of receiving money for the administration of the 
sacraments.* 

We find in a work, " Mnratori," (a ritual of sins, and 
the cost of pardons,) that any sin can be redeemed by 
the payment of money, in place of the penance. f Every 
imagined crime is laid down, and the penance prescribed; 
so the penitent believed that he fully satisfied Divine 
justice when he paid his money to the priest, who said a 
few masses for the same, and told him " that God does 
not judge twice, but that, having submitted to their con- 
fessor, their sins are blotted out forever. "J 

It is only in the rituals or penitentials that the nomen- 
clature of the commutation of penalties, and that of the 
taxes imposed on penitents by the pope, bishops and 
monks, is to be found. This matter is kejit secret in the 
present day, though undoubtedly still prevailing where- 
ever there is a penitent or confessor of the Romish 
Church. Pope Nicholas said, in 13G6, when consulted 
about it, "Laymen have no right to judge the acts of the 
priesthood. "§ 

Pope Leo X. ordered the catalogue of sins to be dra^^Ti 
up in Rome, and the sums to be paid for absolution. 
The ecclesiastical budget is called, " Taxes of the Apos 
tolic Chancery," and " Taxes of the Holy Apostolic Pen- 
itentiary." 

We give the reader a few specimens which are found 
in the work : 

"Remission given to a rich man for the wealth he has 
absconded with, 50 ducats ; for a poor man, 20 ducats. 

* Ilistoriae du Councile de Trente, par Fra Paola Sarpi, i. 11. 

t Muratori Antiqui Mediaevi, p. 724. 

itMurat., p. 728. § Murat., p. 741. 



62 The Romilli Confeffional. 

For a layman not to be bound to observe fasts of the 
Church, and to eat cheese, 20 ducats. For an indulgence 
to visit the body of Jesus Christ, when it is publicly ex- 
posed, 12 ducats. For absolution of any one who has 
been intimate with a woman in a church, or done any 
other harm, 6 ducats. For destroying a virgin, 6 ducats. 
For the absolution of a concubinage, and dispensation of 
irregularities, 7 ducats. For the absolution of hira who 
has killed his father, mother, brother, or sister, or any of 
his lay relations, 5 or 6 ducats ! For an absolution for 
spoilers, incendiaries, thieves and homicidal laymen, 
8 ducats. For absolution of a woman who causes her 
child to perish, 5 ducats. For allowing a ship to convey 
merchandise to infidels, 100 ducats. For enabling the 
king and queen to procure indulgence, as if they had 
been to Rome, 200 ducats. For absolution of a king 
who has visited the Holy Sepulchre without the pope's 
permission, 100 ducats." 

The reader will here observe, that the most enoi-mous 
crimes, many of which are too shocking to mention, are 
taxed much lower than the most insignificant practices 
prescribed by the Court of Rome. These prescriptions, 
all originating with confession, end with the following : 
" Pro mortuo excommunicato^ par quo supplicant con- 
sanguinei littera absolutiones venit^ ducat 1, carl. 9." 

So, the Poj^e, exalting himself to a level with God, 
gives absolution to the dead in a state of excommunica- 
tion, and a soul in the lowest pit of hell can be got back 
by paying the Holy Penitentiary at Rome the sum of 
one ducat nine carlines! By virtue of these two words, 
te alsolvo^ accompanied by plenary indulgence and a few 
pieces of money, people obtained, and still do, forgive- 
ness and remission of crimes, however enormous they 



The Romifli Confeffional. 63 

may be, and even have the dead hurled from hell, and 
placed in all the delights of paradise ! So teaches the 
Holy Mother Church ! 

Tanchez, the Jesuit, wrote a work which was printed 
in 1592, at Genoa, " De Matrimcnio," in which he unveiled 
the mysteries of marriage. This book, a true school of 
debauchery, was dedicated to the Archbishop of Grenada, 
and was approved by the Roman Catholic censors, with 
so much delight, that in the license we find this language 
"Legi, perlegi maxima cum voluptate." From the fa- 
mous work of this Jesuit, cases of conscience have been 
manufactured, and the licentious details with which the 
/' priests and bishops pollute the seminaries and the minds 
of those who are appointed to direct consciences, are 
drawn. 

Albert-le-Grand had fathomed this same indelicate 
subject in the thirteenth century, in his " Commentary 
on the Fourth Book of Sentences." He pleads as his 
excuse for writing of conjugal duties, the horrible avowal 
that they must be heard in confession : " cogentibus 
monstris quae in confessione audiunter." 

Theophilus Raymond, a Jesuit, who, lived in the middle 
of the seventeenth century, commends Albert for having 
unveiled to the casuists, the turpitude of conjugal duties ! 

The chief pleasure of these writers seems to be in 
assimilating the hidden mysteries of religion, with the 
animal functions inherent to mankind, and no language 
can describe their excessive vileness. 

Another, equally scandalous as these to which we have 
referred, was published by a priest named Soettler, and re- 
printed by a professor of theology, with the title 
*' Joannis Gaspari Soettler sextum Decalogi proeceptum," 
etc. Here is the translation : " Extracts of Universal 



64 The Romiili Confeffional. 

Moral Theology on tlie sixth (Tth) precejDt of the De- 
calogue relative to the Obligations of the Married Life, 
and divers points concerning Marriage, by J. G. Soettler ; 
with Notes and 'New Researches, by J. P. Ronsselet, 
Professor of Theology in the Seminary of Grenoble,"* 

In pages 17, 23, 28, and 37, cases of conscience and 
questions upon unheard of crimes, are so disgusting that 
it is impossible to mention them in any language. The 
very title of the book is enough to show its loathsome 
character. 

Another work, which is in the hands of the young in the 
Romish seminaries of our country, to corrupt their morals, 
is called " Compendium Theologiae Moralis," etc. In this 
we find a formal attack against our institutlo^is and liber- 
ties. In commending this to the earnest observation of the 
reader, we translate : "Abridgment of Moral Theology, 
extracted chiefly from the works of B. Ligouri, by Moullet, 
ex-Professor of Moral Philosophy, printed with the jDer. 
mission of the Superiors."! With ingenious subtlety and 
distinctions, the author authorizes murder, theft, adultery, 
and other crimes. He suj^poses a case in which a j)erson, 
came to be confessed after he had heard that all 
Christian sects were equally good, and all lead to salva- 
tion, and he believed that to be true ; but now asks 
whether he had sinned in so hearing and believing. 
This is the answer of the Jesuit theologian: "You are 
guilty of heresy, if, knowing that the Catholic Church 
teaches the contrary, you think that any one may be 
saved in any of the communions which are termed Chris- 
tian ; and because you have manifested this voluntary 
error, you have incurred, by so doing, your damna- 
tion." 

* Caiy, liber, edit. 1840, pages 192. f Fribourg, Labartrovi, 1834. 



The Romifli Confeffional. 65 

Observe furtlier, " The agent obeying Lis chief v/ith a 
good intention, acts meritoriously, though, by so doing, 
he acts against the laws of God, — ' quam vis materialiter 
agat contra legem Dei.' " (p. 38.)* It is from these rules 
and similar instructions from confessors, that the Roman 
Catholic subjects of these United States are trained to 
support the supremacy of the pope of Rome. 

Our authority also thus justifies perjury : " If any one 
accuses himself at the sacred tribunal of penitence for hav- 
ing taken an oath, the confessor ought to ask him if it was 
his intention to swear, that is to say, to call God to witness; 
for people often use judicatory formulas without any 
intention of taking an oath." 

The author next instructs young confessors upon their 
duty when abandoned women reveal the story of their 
shame, in all its detail, and tells them — that it is of no 
consequence what the eifect of the i-ecital may be on 
them ; provided they do not consent ! He adds : " It is 
equally safe to the conscience of the confessor, to read 
what may be written on luxury or debauchery, in hoolcs 
on morality /" After saying, that he who by fraud, solici- 
tation, address or promise of marriage, betrays a woman, 
is bound to make reparation only in case the thing is 
made public ; he adds : " If, however, his crime has 
remained absolutely secret, it is more than probable that, 
in his conscience, the seducer is bound to make no repara- 
tion." (p. 406.) 

In vol. II., p. 333, there is a combination of infamy, 

. ** It is with such maxims, that the confessors liave excited the 
Ravaillacs, Saint Bartliolomew's massacres, insurrections of the people 
against legitimate authority, and the civil wars which have defiled 
Europe with blood, and excited all that spirit of encroachment and in- 
tolerance whicli animates the Romish priesthood 



66 The Romilh Confeffional. 

wHch no other class of men, but Roman Catholic theo- 
logians could conceive ! " For a marriage to be valid, 
there must be an internal mutual consent ; for marriage 
is a legitimate contract that is essentially true of two 
persons. If, therefore, the consent of either party were 
feigned or fictitious, the marriage would be void." (Yol, 
ii., p. 216.) 

We now come to the work of Mr. Bouvier, which is 
designed for the instruction of the seminaries and colleges 
which are founded or directed by Jesuits. The book 
bears this title : " Institutiones PhilosophijB ad usum Colle- 
giorum et Seminariorum. Autore J. B. Bouvier, episcopo 
Cenomanensis, sexta edit. Parisiis, Meguinion, Junior, 
1841." Bouvier was appointed Bishop of Mans, and after- 
wards created a Roman Count by Pope Gregory XVI. 

From the extracts we shall give from this work, the 
reader will be abundantly able to discover, what at this 
day, are the principles of morality, religion, philosophy, 
and politics of the Romish bishops and priests of the 
United States ; and what will be the results of confession 
and education entrusted to men and women who are 
secretly teaching such doctrines. 

As regards politics, the Bishop of Mans thus instructs : 
he terms the sovereignty of the people an impious princi- 
ple which has given rise to deplorable calamities : "Ex quo 
lugendae provenerunt calamitates." Supreme authority 
proceeds from God and can proceed only from God, 
because civil power is but the image of paternal power, 
which proceeds evidently from God. God alone can exer- 
cise supreme authority, because He alone is superior to 
it (that is the priests in his name).* 

It is a legal proverb in Rome " Legislator von tenteur." The Law- 
giver is not bounded. 



The Romifti Confeffional. 67 

There is nothing the prince may not do when circum- 
stances require it. Princes are not properly bound by any 
civil laws, for they could be bound only by laws made by 
others. Now, that cannot be, since they own no supe- 
rior in temporal matters; and their own laws cannot 
oblige them, because no one obliges himself, (p. 605.) 
Subjects ought, whenever the legitimate prince may 
order it, to take up arms against the usurper, combat, 
overthrow and expel him, if he can. Nay, more ; any 
individual ought to kill him as a public malefactor, if 
the legitimate prince should expressly command it.* 

The editor of the "Roman CathoUc Review" in this 
country, rightly expounded this Romish doctrine when 
he said, " the Pope is the proper authority to decide 
whether the constitution of this country is, or is not, re- 
pugnant to the laws of God." Now, as we see by the 
established dogma of the Romish church, any individual 
might, with a safe conscience, perpetrate any enormity 
against the interest of the state, with impunity. " In 
these ' Philosophical Institutes,' the obscenity is so abomin- 
able, that the bishop, after directing confessors how to put 
questions to the other sex on the validity of matrimony, 
directs them to an infallible means to preserve themselves 
from danger. This is by a jDraycr addressed to the Holy 
Virgin Mary, of which he gives the formula. 

We have now made the reader acquainted with the 
works on moral theological philosophy, which are put at 
this present time in the hands of every priest in the 
Roman Catholic seminaries of the United States, as the 
rule they are to follow in the direction of the souls con- 

* Arma assumere, ilium espugnare, vincere et espellere, si possint ; 
irao privatim ilium tanquam publicum malefactorem occidere, si legiti- 
mus princeps id expresse jubet. (p. 628.) 



68 The Romifli Confeffionax. 

ficled to their care. By examining the writings of Car 
dinal Tolet, Fillicius, Tambourini, Emmanuel Sa, Escobar, 
Businbaum, Molino, Toletanus and other Romish authors, 
it is found that cases of conscience and inquisitorial curi- 
osity forms the most important branch of their theology, 
by seeking the most secret thoughts of the mind. 

There is a work called, " La Confession Coupee, or, an 
easy method of preparing for particular and general con- 
fessions ; invented by the reverend father Saint Christo- 
pher Leuterbrever, a friar of the order of St. Francis : 
with a treatise on the most common sins among married 
people." (Paris : 1739. 18mo.) This book is put into 
the hands of children called to make a general confession, 
at the time of first mass. 

It contains some thousands of sins, with which children 
are made acquainted, many of which grown jDcrsons 
should be ignorant all their lives. " Each sin is printed 
on one side only of the leaf, cut into little slips which 
could be raised and folded to j)oint out the sins of 
which any one might be guilty ! " Cardinal Fleury thus 
shows the depravity of the confession : " With regard to 
sins which could be excused, the remedy is an easy abso- 
lution. Sometimes he is told that he sins indeed, but 
that the remedy is easy, and he may sin every day, by 
confessing every day." "Would the people be afraid of 
the ague, if it could be cured by merely swallowing a 
glass of water ? Or, would any one be afraid to rob 
or murder, if he could get off by washing his hands ? 
Confession is almost as easy, where you have only to 
whisper a word in the ear of the priest, without fearing 
a postponement of absolution ; without any painful expi- 
ation, or the necessity of missing the opportunity. You 
may wear a scapulary, tell your beads or say some fiimous 



The Romifli Confeffional. 69 

prayer every day, without forgiving your enemy, restor- 
ing ill-acquired wealth, or quitting your concubine.* 

With a view of ascertaining sins of which the penitents 
are ignorant, the confessors teach them the knowledge of 
them. It is this knowledge of vice, so imparted, that 
leads to all the immoralities between priests and women: 
opportunity invites to crime, both parties being sure that 
no revelation of their guilt will be made, while they are 
equally interested in keeping the secret. 

"When is it lawful for the confessor to make use of the 
knowledge acquired in confession ? Ansioer : When the 
sinner is by no means discovered ; also, when no griev- 
ance is occasioned to him or another; in fine, when 
nothing intervenes to render confession odious.f " In like 
manner, if he should learn from confession that, heresies 
are being spread in his parish ; that certain vices and sins 
are creeping on, he will be able by general instructions 
and monitions, to guard the faithful against such sins, so 
as not to reveal the person. J 

" But is the condition of educating the offspring in her- 
esy repugnant to the substance of matrimony, namely, 
that the sons may follow their heretical father in his sect, 
and the daughters their Catholic mother? Ansioer. 
Daelman observes, that, if the Catholic party enter- 
ing matrimony under such condition, directly intended 
the education of her offspring in heresy, the marriage 
would be invalid ; whence it is supposed, he says, that 
she only obliges herself not to prevent such education." 

Then after giving the opinions of other Roman Catho- 
lic theologians, to the same end. Dens proceeds : 

" See Pleury's Discours sur 1' Ilistoire Ecee disc, viii., n. 14. 
f Dens, t. vi., p. 238. % I^ens, t. vi., p, 238. 



yo The Romifh ConfelTional. 

" In the meantime, this kind of stipulation is null, 
since it is repugnant to the obligations of parents ; and 
although some endeavor to excuse such compact, whilst 
the Catholic party only obliges herself to permit such 
education for the sake of avoiding greater evil in a com- 
munity where Catholics and heretics lived mingled to- 
gether ; however, we must say with Pontius, Braunman, 
and Reiffenstuel, that such marriage with express or tacit 
compact, or under the condition, ' that either all, or any 
of the children, for instance the males, be educated in the 
sect of their heretical father' is alicays and everywhere 
unlawful, most iniquitous, and grievously sinful, against 
the natural obligations of parents, and against the divine 
and ecclesiastical law ; for every jjarent is bound piously 
to take care that the offspring be educated in the true 
faith, and acquire the necessary means for salvation ; 
therefore she is bound by no obligation to permit the 
education of her offspring in a damnable sect! Nor 
does the usage and custom openly existing in several 
places, make against this; for this compact is against 
divine law, against which even immemorial custom oper- 
ates nothing." (Dens, t. vii., pp. 144-5.) 

"Take notice that if a Catholic knowingly contract mar- 
riage with a heretic, he cannot on that head separate 
himself from her, because he has renounced the right of 
divorce ; except however, unless promised her conversion, 
and would not stand to her promise : in like manner, if 
the Catholic knows that he is in imminent danger of 
losing the faith, by cohabiting with the heretic. (Dens, 
t. vii., p. 180.) Here we learn, that, if a Protestant woman, 
who has married a Roman Catholic, refuses to renounce 
her religion, at the dictation of the priest, the mar- 
riage is invalid, and the husband may sue for a divorce. 



The Romifh Confeilional. 71 

So that any Catholic can dissolve his maniage with a 
heretic, by telling the priest, his faith is in danger ! 

" What is understood by reserved cases ? Answer. — 
Certain sins, the sacramental absolution of which the 
superior specially reserves to himself. This simple reser- 
vation is not a censure, since it is not properly a punish- 
ment, but a simple negation of approbation or jurisdic- 
tion. (Dens, t. vi., p. 263.) 

" Who can reserve sins ? Answer. That superior for 
whom it is competent to grant approbation or jurisdiction 
to absolve from sins. The Supreme Pontiff determines 
the reserved cases for the universal church ; the Bishop 
for his own diocese ; the superiors of regulars can reserve 
cases for their own subjects, but according to the limita- 
tion of Clement the Vlllth." (Dens, t. vi., p. 270.)* 

Rev. Pierce Connelly, M. A., was formerly a clergy- 
man of the Episcopal Church of the United States, and 
rector of Trinity, Natchez. It appears that more than 
fifteen years ago he became a Roman Catholic. The 
Earl of Shrewsbury stood sponsor for him on entering 
the Church of Rome, and he became his lordship's domes- 
tic chaplain. He has now renounced the communion of 
Rome, and with propriety addresses to the Earl of 
Shrewsbury his Reasons for abjuring the allegiance to 
the See of Rome. 

Mr. Connelly says: "I know this same Church of 
Rome in its petty schemes of anarchy in families more 
hateful and more devilish than when it deals with nations. 
I have seen priests and bishops of the Church of Rome, 

* Here in the United States, (as we have shown,) each Romish 
bishop, makes out his own formula for confession; reserving what 
monstrous sins he pleases, for his own absolution. This is printed and 
may be found in the pocket of every priest. 



72 The Romifli Confeffional. 

their own convictions disregarded, and all responsibility 
to God and society thrown off, in the instinct of hostility 
to man's natural relationships; in spite, too, in one 
instance, of the private commands of the Pope — I have 
seen them band together, for the mere sake of a legacy 
or a life-interest, to break down laws which are looked 
upon even by savages as the most sacred of all, divine 
or human. 

" I have known a husband taught to deal double in the 
sacred matters of religion with his high-born wife, a 
brother with his high-born sisters, wives with their hus- 
bands and daughters, without number, with their trust- 
ing parents. I have seen clerical inviolability to mean 
nothing less than license and impurity. I have read to 
the pure and simple-minded Cardinal Prefect of the Pro- 
paganda a narrative written to a j)ious lay-friend by a 
respected Roman priest, of such enormities of lust in his 
fallen priests around him, that the reading of them took 
away my breath, to be answered, ' Caro mio^^ I know it, 
I know it all, and worse than all, but nothing could be 
done ! 

" I have known a priest, here in England, i^ractice 
Liguori simply as an amateur of wickedness, just as he 
would try poison upon cats or dogs. I have known this 
creature get uj), and very successfully, a miracle (I have 
proof in his own hand-writing) at the very moment 
when, as a brother priest satisfied me, he was experi- 
menting in seduction, 'but nothing could be done !' 

"I have known a priest received and honored at a 
prince-bishop's table, when the host knew him to have 
seduced a member of his own fiunily ! but nothhig could, 
be done. 

" I have been mocked by dean and bishop for denounc- 



The Romifli Confeffional. 



73 



ing a young priest, in whose bed-room, and before there 
had been time to dress himself, in broad day, in England, 
under a convent-roof, I had myself found a young nun, 
apparently as much at home as her confessor was himself." 

How many such sights might be witnessed in our 
country, could the convents be suddenly uncovered I 

" In the rear of Allegany town," says the Richmond 
Telegraphy of 1846, " and in full view of Pittsburgh, is a 
Catholic nunnery, one of these schools of tyranny, 
superstition and pollution. An event has recently 
occurred which has suddenly scattered the priest and 
the whole community. A gentleman, residing in the 
east, had been induced by fair statements to place his 
daughter in the nunnery to be educated. Much time 
elapsed, he had often written to her, but no answer came. 
He set off for the nunnery to see her. The lady superior, 
accustomed to duplicity, told him she was not at home. 
He insisted on knowing where she was, and finally the 
abbess told him that she was sick in bed and could not 
be seen. He demanded a sight of her in a tone and 
spirit which the lady-superior thought it imprudent to 
resist, and being shown to her room, behold, there was 
the once healthy and promising daughter — icith an 
infant! His indignation was so aroused, that he 
uttered threats in regard to the safety of the establish- 
ment, and the next morning not an individual was found 
there." 

Mr. Connelly further says : 

" I have been forced to let pass, witliout even ecclesi- 
astical rebuke, a priest's attempt upon the chastity of my 
own wife, the mother of my children, and to find instead 
only sure means taken to prevent the communication to 
me of any similar attempts ! 
4 



74 



The Romiili Confeffional. 



" This is a part of what has come within my own ex- 
perience, but it is not the worst of that sad experience. 

"I have seen priests of mean abilities, of coarse 
natures and gross breeding, practice upon pure and 
highly-gifted women of the upper ranks, married and un- 
married, the teachings of their treacherous and impure 
casuistry, with a success which seemed more than human. 

" I have seen these priests impose their pretendedly 
divine authority, and sustain it by mock miracles, for 
ends that were simply devilish. I have had poured into 
my ears what can never be uttered, and what ought not 
to be believed, but was only too plainly true ; and I have 
seen that all that is most deplorable is not an accident, 
but a result, an inevitable result, and a confessedly 
inevitable result of the working of the practical system 
of the Church of Rome, with all its stupendous machinery 
of mischief; and the system is irrevocable and irremedi- 
able !'' 

" There are throughout Spain Moral Academies y which 
are colleges or assemblies of Father Confessors in which 
each proposes some moral cause which has happened to 
him in confession, with an exact and particular account 
of the confession, without mentioning the penitent's 
name. This question is propounded and each member 
delivers his opinion upon it. This is constantly practised 
every Friday. When the case is intricate and extraordi- 
nary, they send it to the great Academy, a college com- 
posed of sixteen casuistical doctors and four i)rofessors 
of divinity ; by them the case is debated and the resolu- 
tion entered on the Books of the Academy. I was a 
member," says Gavin,* " three years of the Academy of 

^ Anthony Gavin a secular priest in the University of Zaragosa, in 
Arragon, Spam. 



The Romifli Confeffional. 75 

Holy Trinity founded by the Archbishop of Ganiboa. I 
was ordained before I was twenty-three years old, and at 
the same time licensed to hear confessions of both sexes. 
I entered this Academy as soon as possible and found 
that every member when chosen had to promise upon the 
word of a priest, to give the whole Assembly a faithful 
account of all the private confessions heard the week be- 
fore, which have anything difficult yet not so as to men- 
tion the penitent's name. The secretary enters all the 
cases in a book, which is printed every three years. The 
Academy of Holy Trinity, is composed of twenty mem- 
bers; so each member becomes acquainted with many 
hundred private confessions, not made to himself. There 
is no confession which may not be lawfully revealed, 
(provided the confessor does not discover the penitent,) 
and the only reason for enjoining and keeping secrecy, is 
the hazard the penitent may run by the discovery. 

"Among the private cases recorded in the Academy's 
book, is that of a woman, who leading a life of infamy 
■with the priests, went to confess to escape the censure of 
the Church. ' I went,' she relates, * to an old father he 
was easy and gave me a certificate of confession on my 
promising to pay him a pistole, without inquiring into 
the matter and without it, I satisfied the curate of the 
parish. But last year, I went to confess and the confes- 
sor was very strict ; he would not give me absolution be- 
cause I was a sinner, but I gave him five pistoles for ten 
masses and then he told me, that a confessor's duty was 
to take care of souls in Purgatory, and upon that ac- 
count, he could not refuse me absolution. So by that I 
escaped the censure of the church. I stole from the 
church a chalice by the advice of the said confessor, and 
he used the money I got for the silver, and I did con- 



y6 The Romifli Confeilional. 

verse with him unlawfully, several times, in the church. 
To this, I must add an infinite number of sins, in thought, 
word, and deed, etc' The confessor had destroyed this 
woman and made away with the property willed her, 
by her father. But the reverend Fathers of the Aca- 
demy decided, that the friar had nothing of his own, and 
at his death was obliged to leave everything to the con- 
vent, therefore he was not to blame ; and as to the 
woman, she was not required to make any restitution. 
In the fourth case of private confession, was that of a 
priest about to die in 1710. " My thoughts" says he, 
" have been impure since I first began to hear confession. 
.... My actions have been the most criminal among 
mankind." 

" Every priest had a list of the handsomest women in 
his parish, and when he had a fancy to see any woman 
remarkable for her beauty in another parish, the priest 
sent for her to his own house. So we served one another 
for twelve years. Our method has been to persuade 
their fathers and husbands not to hinder their spiritual 
comfort. I have spared no woman for whom I had a fancy, 
and many of other parishes, I cannot tell the number ! " 

" The case of the sacrament's dog was another before 
the Moral Academy for discussion. It appears that in a 
Dominican convent, a woman went to receive the sacra- 
ment, accompanied by her lap-dog ; and as the dog looked 
up and began to bark, the friar dropped the wafer into 
its mouth, instead of that of his mistress. In the alarm 
of both lady and friar, the reverend prior of the convent 
was called, who ordered the cross and two lighted can- 
dles to be brought, and had the dog carried in the form 
of a procession to the vestry, and there to be retained 
until he had dio-ested the wafer, and then he must be 



The Roriiiih Confeflional. yy 

killed. The devotee objected to the killing of her dog ; 
the case came before the Inquisitors, and to the grief of 
the woman, the dog was sent to the Inquisition ! " * 

We conclude our citations from Romish writers upon 
the confessional, with the following : " What is the seal 
of the sacramental confession ? It is the obligation or 
duty of concealing those things which are learned from 
sacramental confession." Can a case be given, in which 
it is lawful to break the sacramental seal ? Answer : It 
cannot ; although the life or safety of a man depended 
thereon, or even the destruction of the commonwealth 5 
nor can the supreme pontiff give dispensation in this ; so 
that, on that account, this secret of the seal is more 
binding than the obligation of an oath, a vow, a natural 
secret, etc. ; and that by the positive will of God."f 

We shall find this strong language to mean that the 
priests keep the secret or not, as it promotes the interest 
of the church ! " What answer, then, ought a confessor 
to give, when questioned concerning a truth, which he 
knows from sacramental confession only ? Answer : He 
ought to ansiver that he does not know it^ and^ if neces- 
sary^ to confirm the same with an oath ! Objection : It 
is in no case lawful to tell a lie ; but that confessor would 
be guilty of a lie, because he knows the truth ; therefore, 
etc. Answer : I deny the minor, because such a confessor 
is questioned as a man ; but now he does not know that 
truth as a man, though he knows it as God, says St. 
Thomas, and that is the free and natural meaning of the 
answer; for when he is asked, or when he answers out- 
side confession, he is considered as a man. Here we 
observe, that the vile priest asserts that he is God, while 
hearing a penitent ! 

« Gavin. t Dens, vol. vi. 



y8 The RomiHi Confeflional. 

" What if a confessor were directly asked whether he 
knows it through sacramental confession? Answer: 
In this case he ought to give no answer ; reject the 
question as impious ; or he could even say, absolutely not 
relatively to the question, I know nothing ; because the 
word 1 restricts to his human knowledge." * 

"But if any one should disclose his sins to a confessor, 
with the intention of mockmg him, or of drawing him 
into an alliance with him in the execution of a bad de- 
sign ? Ansicer: The seal does not result therefrom, 
because the confession is not sacramental. Thus, as 
Domiuick Soto relates, it has been decided at Rome, in a 
case in which some one went to a confessor with the in- 
tention of drawing him into a conspiracy against the 
Pope.f In fine all things are reduced indirectly to the 
seal, by the revealing of which the sacrament would be 
rendered odious, according to the manners of the coun- 
try and the changes of the times ; and thus Steyart 
observes, that some things are at one time opposed 
to the seal, which at another time are not considered 
as such." (Dens.) I 

" Does a confessor, relating the sins which he has heard 
in confession, act contrary to the seal ? Aiisicer : If the 
sinner or person can by no means be discovered, not even 
in general, nor any prejudice to himself happen therefrom, 

* Dens. t Dens. 

X So, we find, that while the seal would prevent a Romish priest 
from disclosing a conspiracy, which was designed against the lives of 
the citizens or government of the United States, he is free to violate it 
at any time, when the Pope or the interests of his church require it. 
Hence a papist can enter a confession of his intention to take the hfe 
of a particular individual, either by assassination or poison, in our 
country, and return after the commission of the deed, make a confes- 
sion of the fact, and be absolved from the crime I 



The Romifli ConfellionaL y^ 

he does not act coiitraiy to the seal, because the seal has 
reference to the penitent or sinner." Dens. 

" Lastly take note, that since the restriction is made to 
carnal sins, the confessor will be able to give valid abso- 
lution to his accomplice in other sins, namely, in theft, in 
homicide, etc.* A confessor has seduced his penitent to 
the commission of carnal sin, not in confession, nor by 
occasion of confession, but from some other extra- 
ordinary occasion: is he to be denounced? Answer: 
No. If he had tampered with her, from his know- 
ledge of confession, it would be a different thing ; be- 
cause, for instance, he knows that person, from her 
confession, to be given to carnal sins.f For which reason, 
Steyait reminds us that a confessor can ask a penitent, 
who confesses that she has sinned with a priest, or has 
been seduced by him to the commission of carnal sin, 
whether that priest was her confessor, or had seduced 
her in the confessional." 

On t/ie absolution of an accomplice. " Let it be ob- 
served, that in case of danger of death, no confessor, 
though he may otherwise have the power of absolving 
from reserved cases, may or can absolve his accomplice 
in any external mortal sin against chastity, committed by 
the accomplice with the confessor himself." This case 
of an accomplice is not placed amongst the reserved 
cases, because the bishop does not reserve the absolution. 

We learn, further, that while the penitent is bound 
not to disclose what she has heard from the priest in the 
confession, the priest is bound only by his interest. The 
confessor, as we are informed by Dens, begins, by saying 
he is bound to inviolable secresy, but ends by showing 
that there is no secresy whatever. It is beyond all ques- 
* Dens. t P. Antoiue. 



8o The Romifh Confeffional. 

tion the inviolable secresy enjoined on penitents, which 
has and must ever cause the gross immoralities of the 
confessional. In this way, this specious pretence that the 
confessor holds out of his obligation to secresy, which 
has deceived and beguiled mankind, and is now doing it 
in these United States. 

This theological book of Dens, like all the Romish au- 
thors, is published in the Latin language, but it can be 
found in the Catholic book-stores in our country, w^here 
any scholar may procure and read it. It is in the hands 
of every Romish confessor in our land. 



I 



CHAPTER III 



COXVEXTS EXPOSED BY EOMISH WRITERS. 

The Age required — Examination — Ceremony — The Consecration of Nuns — Eo- 
mish Authority— Black Veil— Nuptial Character— What Takes Place— The Pol- 
luting Character— The Ring- The Veil— The Crown— Eastern Custom -The 
Prayer— The Curse— The Mass— The Breviary— The Abbess— Confessional- 
Penance— Gother on Mortal Sin — What a Nun should do when there against 
her Will — The Nuns' Danger — Confessor may Fall — ^The Bishop makes his Form 
of Confession for this Country — Virgin Nuns' Spouse — St. Mary DePazzl — Nuns 
Immaculate — Horrors of Marriage — The Grate — The Suffering — ^The Saints 
Fortunes — Abnegation of Self— no Will for Nuns — ^External Mortification — 
Sanctificaiion of the Eyes — Of the Appetite — Hearing — Smelling — Touch — Flog- 
ging Nuns— Torture Against Sleep — Poverty — Danger of Relatives — Secrets of 
the Convents — Love — ^The Grate to be Shunned — The Prison — Spiritual Reading 
— Confess Fully — ^The Girl who Concealed — ^The Eucharist is God — Holy Mary — 
Her Gorshipers— The Rosary— Indulgence— The Abbess— Rigors— Theatricals 
—Law should Break them up. 

The tender age of sixteen, is all that the Council of 
Trent requires, in a male or female, in order to make a 
profession of the monastic life ! (See Session xxv. chap. 
XV.) At the same Session, chap, xvi., we read : " that if a 
monk or nun, through force or fear, should take the vows 
under the age appointed by law, they shall not be heard 
until within five years of their profession ! " 

The poor child whose physical system is yet undevel- 
oped, then has the duties and cares of married life freely 
discussed, and denounced by the bishop, as interfering 
with her soul's health. 

Thus wooed and won, a young and handsome girl, the 
daughter of a nobleman in England, entered the cloister 
4'' (81) 



82 Convents Expofed. 

of her own choice! An eye-witness described the scene 
as truly affecting. The church was strewn with flowers 
to the altar — the strangers gazed — the cardinal gave his 
blessing — the priests, their flattery — the friends, their 
tears; and, for that ceremony, the deluded girl was a 
great heroine ! Every eye was moistened as she chanted, 
in soft recitative, her irrevocable vows ! Her diamonds 
were taken from her beautiful hair, which hung in luxu- 
riant tresses on her shoulders. The grate to entomb her 
was opened ! The abbess and her black train of nuns, 
welcomed her in their choral strain. She renounced her 
name and title ; and imder the solemn benediction of the 
cardinal, and the last embrace of her friends, she passed 
to that bourne from whence she was never to return. 

A panel behind the high altar now opened, and she ap 
peared at the grate again, despoiled ol all her jewels and 
elesfant attire, with her beautiful hair all shorn from her 
head, by the merciless sisters — who hastened to invest her 
with the sober robe of the nuns— the white coif and the 
novitiate veil. 

She was last seen at the little postern gate of the con- 
vent, to receive the sympathy, the praise, and the con- 
gratulations of friends; who were expected to pay their 
compliments to the new " spouse of heaven !" But this, 
reader, is but the outward pomp, and is as much as a 
Protestant can ever see. Now, let Liguori and other 
Roman Catholic, authorities tell the rest. 

The ceremony to which we have alluded, was the tak- 
ing of the white, or first veil. How is it with the black 
veil ? We shall see. In the Pontificate JRoma^mm* we 

* Pontificate Romanum, Pars Prima De Benedictione et Consecra- 
tione Yirginium, Brussels, 1735. Fayes' Romish Rites, and Officera 
and Legrends, London, 1839. 



Convents Expofed. 83 

learn the form of the Consecration of Nuns. It says : 
*'That the evening before the day of the benediction, or 
on the morning before, the pontiff vests himself for mass, 
and the virgins are presented in some convenient place, 
where he questions them, individually, as to their purpose 
to remain virgins ; and each one apart, by herself, con- 
cerning her life and conscience, and her carnal integrity y 
They are also questioned in regard to age ; as to whether 
they are five and twenty, but the age varies in different 
countries. The rubric then states how the vestments, 
jewels, rings, etc., to be blessed, are laid first on the 
Epistle side of the altar ; matrons are appointed brides- 
maids, and a pavilion is erected in the church, where the 
nuns assemble and are clothed in these hallowed vest- 
ments. Mark the nw^^m/ character of this ceremony. 

After mass the Arch-presbyter profanely chants : " Ye 
wise virgins, make ready your lamps ; behold the bride- 
groom Cometh ; go ye forth to meet him." 

The virgins hearing his voice, light their wax tapers, 
and, two by two, advance and are presented upon their 
knees, before the pontiff, by the arch-presbyter, who 
says : " Most reverend father, the Holy Catholic Mother 
Church demands that you vouchsafe to hallow and con- 
secrate these present virgins, and espouse them to our 
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Most High God." 

The mitred pontiff says to the Arch-priest, " Dost thou 
know them to be worthy?" and being satisfactorily 
answered, he says to all standing around : " The Lord 
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ helping, we elect these 
virgins now before us, to bless them and consecrate and 
espouse them to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the 
Most High God." Then the pontiff calls the virgins in 
chant, saying, " Venite;^^ they answer in latin, "And 



84 Convents Expofed. 

now we follow;" and rising, one by one, they proceed to 
the entrance of the choir and kneel outside. Then the 
pontiff calls on them a second time, in a louder tone, 
** Venite.^^ They answer, " And now Ave follow with the 
whole heart," and proceed to the centre of the choir, and 
then kneel. A third time the pontiff calls them, in a still 
louder yoice, ^^ Venite Jllicej audite we;" "Come my 
daughters, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord." 
They, rising, answer chanting: "And now we follow 
with the whole heart; we fear Thee: we seek to see 
Thy face. O Lord, confound us not; but do unto us 
according to Thy loving-kindness, and according to the 
multitude of Thy mercy." Chanting, they come nearer, 
and ascend to the presbytery and kneel before the pon- 
tiff and lowly bend their heads almost even to the ground; 
then, eacli raising her head slightly, chants: "Raise 
Thou me up, O Lord, according to Thy Word, that 
iniquity have no dominion over me." Then they rise, 
and the matron arranges them in a circle around the 
pontiff, who publicly interrogates them as to their vow of 
virginity, saying : 

"Will you persevere in your purpose of holy vir- 
ginity?" 

They answer. " We will." Then each one kneels suc- 
cessively, and putting both her hands, joined between his 
hands, ho says ; " Dost thou promise ever to keep thy vir- 
ginity? A71S.'. "I promise." The pontiff: "Thanks be 
to God." 

Each kisses his hand, rises, returns to her place and 
kneels. He then says to all : " Will ye be hallowed and 
consecrated, and espoused to the Lord Jesus Christ, the 
Son of the Most High God ?" They all answer : " We 
will." The Litany and Veni Creator, follow. Then the 



Cori vents Expofed. 85 

virgins retire to their position, and the pontiff puts off 
his mitre and after various long collects, crossings, and 
hallows, proceeds to sprinkle the vestments of the virgins, 
which are then carried to their pavilion ; where the vir- 
gins having divested themselves of their daily garments, 
put on the blessed ones. The pontiff then hallows the 
veils of the virgins ; then he sprinkles the same ; next, 
the rings — the marriage rings — saying : 

"Creator Lord, send Thy benefdiction upon these 
rings ; that those who shall wear the same, being forti- 
fied with celestial virtue, may maintain entire faith and 
unbroken fidelity, and, as the spouses of Jesus Christ, may 
guard the vow of their virginity and persevere in chas- 
tity." This is all repeated in latin. 

The pontiff next hallows the necklaces, etc., and when 
these hallowings and sanctifications are through,* the 
virgins, arrayed in the blessed vestment, the veils ex- 
cepted, return, two and two, to the pontiff, chanting the 
Responsory, "The kingdom of this world, and all secular 
adorning, I have despised for the love of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." "R. Whom I have seen, whom I have loved, 
and in whom I have believed, in whom I have delighted." 
" My heart hath uttered a good word ; I speak of my 
works to the King."* 

Then the virgins are arranged by their bride-maids be- 
fore the altar, on their knees, in the presence of the pon- 
tiff, their faces bent to the ground. The pontiff, without 
his mitre, rises, and facing the virgins, with his hands 
stretched out before his breast, repeats several prayers. 
We select some passages. "Look down, O Lord, on 
these thy handmaids, who, placing in thy hand the vow 
of their continence, make an offering of their devotion 
* This last passage is a mistranslation of xiv. Psalm. 



86 Convents Expofed. 

unto thee, from whom they themselves have received the 
desire to make this vow. For how else could their mind, 
compassed with mortal flesh, get the victory over the law 
of nature, the freedom of license, the force of custom, 
and the stimulants of youthful age ? " 

The following passage of this polluting service cannot 
be given in literal English : 

" . . . . From the fountain of thy bountifulness 
has flowed this gift. That while the blessing still re- 
mained on holy matrimony, there should exist souls so 
sublime as to loathe .... (see Note A,) and 
earnestly to desire the sacrament of marriage, and yet 
not to imitate w^hat is done in the marriage state, but 
love what is denoted thereby." 

Again, "Blessed virginity confesses Him who is her 
Author, and rivalling the integrity of angels, has devoted 
herself to the bridal chamber and the bed of Him, . . 
. . . who is the spouse of perpetual virginity, like as 
is the son of perpetual virginity." 

The preliminaries ended, the pontiflT sits, having put on 
his mitre. The virgins rise, and the first pair are pre- 
sented by the bride-maids to the pontifi", before whom 
they kneel lowly, and having vowed to persevere in their 
purpose, the pontifi" puts the veil over the head of each 
successively, saying, "Receive then the sacred veil 
whereby thou mayest be known to have condemned the 
world, and truly and humbly, with the whole endeavor 
of thy heart, to have subjected thyself as a wife to Jesus 
Christ for ever^ who defend thee from all evil and bring 
thee to life eternal. Amen. 

The two being veiled, remain on their knees, and sing, 
" He hath set his seal upon my forehead, that I should 
admit no lover but Ilim.^^ And so on, two by two, until 



Convents Expofed. 87 

all are veiled; after which he calls them, chanting in 
latin. " Come, my beloved, to be wedded \ the winter is 
past, the turtle is singing, and the flourishing vines give 
smell." Here the virgins are again presented to the 
pontiff, two by two, by the bride-maids ; and then taking 
the ring and the virgin's right hand in his left, and put- 
ting the ring on the ring-finger of her right hand, he 
espouses the same to Jesus Christ, saying to each sever- 
ally, " I espouse thee to Jesus Christ, the Son of the 
Supreme Father, who keep thee undejiled. Therefore, 
receive the ring of faith, the seal of the Holy Ghost, so 
that thou be called the spouse of God, and if thou serve 
him faithfully, be crowned everlastingly. In nomine 
Pa t tri et Fi t lii et Spiritus f Sancti. Amen." 

This done, the two still kneeling, sing, " I am espoused 
to him whom angels serve, and at whose beauty the sun 
and moon do marvel." The same is done by all until the 
whole are wedded ; and now kneeling on their knees, they 
all at the same time lift up their right hands on high and 
show them, singing, " With his own ring hath he wedded 
me, my Lord Jesus Christ, and hath adorned me with a 
crown as his spouse." 

The pontiff rising in his mitre, faces them, and says : 
" God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, 
who hath vouchsafed to choose you to an espousalship 
like that of the blessed Mary, mother of our Lord Jesiis 
Christ, hal f low you ; that in the presence of God and his 
angels, you may preserve, untouched and undefiled, the 
virginity you have professed, and hold on your purpose, 
love chastity, and keep patience, that you may merit the 
crown of virginity. Through the same Christ our Lord. 
Amen." 

Next follows the ceremony of crowning, which an- 



88 Convents Expofed. 

ciently in the Western and to this day in the Eastern 
churches, is as essential a part of the marriage ceremony 
as the putting on the ring. 

After this is done, the virgms rise and chant : " Lo, 
what I longed for, I now enjoy; what I have hoped for, 
I now hold ; I am joined in heaven to him whom I have 
loved while on earth, with my whole devotion." Then 
the pontiff joining his hands before his breast, pronounces 
over the virgins two benedictions, while they stand, lowly 
bending their heads. A few extracts from these bene- 
dictions will be sufficient. " O God prepare them under 
the governance of thy wisdom for all the work of vir- 
tue and glory, that overcoming the enticements of the 
flesh, and rejecting forbidden concubinage, they may in- 
herit the indissoluble copula of thy Son Jesus Christ our 
Lord." " Let the showers of thy heavenly grace extin- 
guish in them all hurtful heat, and kindle up in them the 
light of abiding chastity ; let not the modest face be ex- 
posed to scandal, nor negligence afford to the incautious 

occasions of falling." " God make you strong 

when frail ; strengthen you when weak, and govern your 
minds with piety, direct your ways, etc., that, when you 

enter the hed-chamher of your spouse he may 

discover in you nothmg hidden, nothing filthy, nothing 

corrupt, nothing disgraceful that when the day 

of repayment of the just, the retribution of the bad, shall 
come avenging fire, may find in you nothing to burn, but 
divine goodness what to crown, as being those whom a 
religious life has already cleansed in this world; so that 
w^hen about to ascend the tribunal of the eternal king, 
you may have protection with those who follow the lamb 
and sing the new song without ceasing ; there to receive 
the reward after labor, and remain forever in the regions 
of the living. Anion." 



Convents Expofed. 89 

The benediction over, the pontiff sits down and pro- 
nounces his curse on any who may draw away from the 
banner of chastity, or on any who may purloin their 
goods, or hinder them from possessing their goods in 
quiet. This is the curse. 

" By the authority of Almighty God and his holy apos- 
tles, Peter and Paul, we solemnly forbid, under pain of 
anathema, that any one draw away these present virgins 
or holy nuns from the divine service to which they have 
devoted themselves, under the banner of chastity; or 
that any one purloin their goods or hinder their possess- 
ing them, unmolested : but if any one shall dare attempt 
such a thing, let him be accursed at home and abroad ; 
accursed in the city and in the field ; accursed in waking 
and sleeping ; accursed in eating and drinking ; accursed 
in walking and sitting ; cursed be his flesh, his bones and 
from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, let him 
have no soundness. Come upon him, the malediction, 
which by Moses in the law, the Lord laid on the sons of 
iniquity. Be his name blotted out from the book of the 
living, and not be written with the righteous. His portion 
and inheritance be with Cain the fratricide, with Dathan 
and Abiram, with Ananias and Sapphira, with Simon the 
sorcerer, and with Judas the traitor, and with those who 
have said to God, depart from us, Ave desire not the 
knowledge of thy ways. Let him perish in the day of 
judgment, and let everlasting fire devour him, with the 
devil and his angels, unless he make restitution and come 
to amendment. FiaL Flat. So be it, so be it." Next 
mass and the offertory is observed. That is, a lighted 
candle is presented to the pontiff, by each nun. Then 
they are ordained to the faculty of beginning the sacred 
hours. The pontiff " sits down, having put on his mitre, 



90 Convents Expofed. 

and delivers to them the breviary, which they touch 
with both hands, while he says: "Receive ye this book, 
that ye may begin the canonical hours and read the office 
in the church. In the name of the Fa f ther and of the f 
Son and of the Holy t Ghost. Amen." 

Last of all (after other ceremonies,) the virgins return 
to the gates of the monastery, where they kneel before 
the i^ontiff, who present them to the abbess, who also 
kneels, while he says : " Take care how thou keepest these 
virgins, who are consecrated to God ; and that thou again 
present them to him immaculate ; as thou shalt render 
account for them before the tribunal of their husband^ 
the judge that is to come.* 

We have now, with some slight abridgment, given the 
service of the final consecration of nuns; a ceremony 
which is taking place in every nunnery between the nuns 
and the bishop. 

The nun being now full}'- espoused, and the Breviary 
put in her hand, we naturally wish to know more of that 
interesting work. It is the service-book of the popish 
church, consisting of the offices of matins, prime, third, 
sixth, nones, vespers, and complines; that is of seven 
hours, to accord with the saying of David, Psalm cxix., 
" Seven times a day do I praise thee." We shall soon 
see how these lessons in the Breviary, praise God ; first re- 
marking that so inestimable is the value put upon the last 
revision of this work, which was done under Pope Urban 
VIII. in 1631, that the Romish church commands it to be 
read by all of both sexes who have professed in any of 
the regular orders ; and all deacons, sub-deacons, and 

* "Pontificale Romanura, Pars Prima de Benedictione et Consecra- 
iione Virginium." Brussels, 1735. Foye's Romish Rites and Offices. 
Lond. 1839. - 



Convents Expofed. 91 

priests, are bound to repeat in public or private the 
whole service of the day out of the Breviary, on pain of 
mortal sin. We have seen that the nun has been espe- 
cially enjoined to this office of opening the canonical 
hours. 

In the service appointed for August 30, we find the 
Legend of St. Rose of Lima, who, it states, " at the age 
oi five made a vow of perpetual virginity, and both before 
and since, Pope Clement the Xth enrolled her in the cata- 
logue of Holy Virgins." In the pope's bull of canoniza- 
tion, he states that " on Palm Sunday when Rose was 
absorbed in meditation, in the chapel of the Blessed Vir- 
gin of the Rosary, Aer ?ov6r thus addressed her: 'Rose 
of my heart, be my love? The virgin trembled at the 
sweet voice of her Divine Spouse, and at the instant, she 
heard the voice of the mother of God, wishing her joy 
and saying, ' Mose, it is no mean honor which this my 
son proposes to you."* "* 

For 15th October, St. Teresa Virgin. The lesson says, 
that this virgin " used to weep over the darkness of infi- 
dels and heretics ; and to appease the wrath of Divine 
vengeance, she used to dedicate to God for their salva- 
tion the voluntary tortures of her own body. She saw 
an angel transpiercing her heart and soul with a fiery 
dart, and heard' Christ, say to her, giving her his right 
hand, ' Thou shalt be henceforth zealous for mine honor, 
as my wife indeed ! ' " She was canonized by Pope Greg- 
ory XV., 1614.t 

The absurd fable of the spiritual espousals of St. 

" The bull which canonized this saint, is dated 12th of April, 1761, 
and is signed by Clement and thirty-five cardinals. See BuUarium 
Magnum. Fol. Lux. 1727. The translation is by Rev. P. Townsend 
PoneU. 

t See Acta Sanctorum Octobris. Brussels, 1845. 



92 Convents Expofed. 

Veronica, who Ls said to have lived from 1660 to 1727, 
the details of which are such an admixture of puerility 
and profanity, that we refrain from copjdng them. It is 
palpably evident, however, that such impious fabrications, 
although belonging to a past age, yet possess a living 
interest with Romanists of the present time, since we 
find Cardinal Wiseman, in 18^6, endorsing them, in the 
following words : "This spiritual union with certain 
devout souls, God has been pleased to manifest to them 
by mere visible signs, accompanied by formalities like 
those used in ordinary marHages^* 

As this Breviary is the only JBihle of the convents and 
nunneries of the United States, the reader will find more 
of its amorous and impure teachings in the Supplemental 
Chapter of this volume. Having seen the latest instruc- 
tions of the Cardinal Archbishop, we turn now to the nun's 
" Confessional?"* This is more important, from the fact 
that it is the confessional which begins with childhood, 
and assumes its most blighting influence just as a girl is 
becoming a young woman, which induces her to take the 
step which cannot be retraced ; for when once the victim 
takes the veil, she is marked as a slave for ever. 

"We give the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church 
on this subject:! 

PEXAXCE EXPOrXDED. 

Q. What is the fourth sacrament ? A. Penance. 

Q. What warrant have you for doing acts of penance ? 

* For more information of the Breviary, see Supplemental Chapter. 

f "An Abridgement of Christian Doctrine, with Proofs of Scripture 
for points controverted." Dubhn, 1838. The preface is signed H. T. 
(Dr. Henry Tuberville, D.D., of the English College of Douav.) and the 
little book was re-pubhshed b-j the Rev. J. Doyle, D.D. This is a 
standard Catechism of Roman Catholics. 



Convents Expofed. 93 

A. First, Apoc. ii. 4 : " Thou hast left thy first charity ; 
be mindful from whence thou art fallen, and do penanced 
Secondly, Matt. iv. 17: "And Jesus began to preach and 
to say, Do ye penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand." 

Q. "What is the matter of the sacrament? A. The 
contrition as expressed, and confession of the penitent. 

Q. What is the form of it ? A. 1 absolve thee from 
thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost. 

The catechiser goes on to say, what the effects of pen- 
ance are: that it reconciles us to God, and either restores 
or increaseth grace. It proceeds : 

Q. "What is confession ? A. It is a full, sincere and 
humble declaration of our sins to a priest, to obtain 
absolution. 

Q. Is there any special good or comfort to man from 
confession ? A. Very great, because to a mind laden 
with secret griefs, the best of her comforts is to disclose 
her case to some faithful friend ; so to a soul laden with 
secret sins, one of the greatest comforts and best remedies 
possible is to have selected persons, ordained for that end 
by Christ himself, men of singular piety and learning, 
and not questionahle by any law, of what they may hear 
in confession, to whom one may confess his sins, with an 
assurance both of comfort, correction and direction, for 
the amendment of his faults. 

Q. "What are the necessary conditions of a good con- 
fession ? A. That it be short, diligent, humble, sorrow- 
ful, sincere and entire. 

After explaining some of these conditions : 
Q. How entire ? A. By confessing, not only in what 
things we have sinned mortally, but also how often, as 
near as we are able to remember. 



94 Convents Expofed. 

Q. What if a man do kno-wdngly leave out any mortal 
sin in his confession, for fear of shame ? A. He makes 
his whole confession void, and commits a great sacrilege, 
by lying to the Holy Ghost ^ and abusing the sacrament. 

Q. How prove you that ? A. By the example of 
Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, etc. 

This popular exposition is strictly and carefully ground- 
ed on the highest authority of the Church of Rome — the 
Council of Trent — to which we will refer. 

*' Sessio JCIY. Gap. v. de Gonfessione. — From the 
institution of the sacrament of penance, already explained, 
the Universal Church has always understood that the 
entire confession of sins was also instituted by the Lord, 
and is of divine right necessary to all who have fallen 
after baptism ; because that our Lord Jesus Christ, when 
about to ascend from earth to heaven, left priests, His 
own vicars, as presidents and judges (sacerdotes sui ipsius 
vicarios reliquit, tanquam prassides et judices), before 
whom all the mortal crimes into which the faithful of 
Christ may have fallen should be brought, to the end 
that, according to the power of the keys, they my pro- 
nounce the sentence of remission or retention of sins. 
For it is certain that priests could not have exercised this 
judgment, the cause being unknown ; neither, indeed, 
could they have observed equity in enjoining punish- 
ments, if they should have declared their sins in general 
only, and not rather specifically and singly. Hence it is 
gathered, that all the deadly sins of which after a diligent 
examination of themselves, they have consciousness, must 
needs be enumerated by penitents in confession, even 
though those sins be most hidden, and committed only 
against the two last precepts of the decalogue, which 
sometimes wound the soul more grievously, and are more 



Convents Expofed. 95 

dangerous than those which are committed outwardly. 
For venial sins, by which we are not excluded from the 
grace of God, and into which we more frequently fall, 
although they be rightly and profita;bly, and "svithout any 
presumption declared in confession, as the custom of 
pious persons shows, yet may be passed over without 
guilt, and be expiated by many other remedies. But 
whereas all mortal sins, even those of thought, render 
men children of wrath, and enemies of God, it is neces- 
sary to seek also for the pardon of them all from God, 
with an open and modest confession ; w^herefore, while 
the faithful of Christ are anxious to confess all the sins 
which occur to the memory, they without doubt lay 
them all open before the mercy of God to be forgiven. 
But they who act otherwise, and knowingly keep back 
certain sins, set nothing before the divine bounty to be 
remitted through the priest. ... It is certain that in the 
church nothing else is required of penitents, but that after 
each has examined himself diligently, and examined all 
the folds and recesses of his conscience, he confess those 
sins by which he shall remember that he has in a deadly 
manner offended his Lord and his God ; whilst the other 
sins, which do not occur to him after diligent considering, 
are understood to be included as a whole in that same 
confession ; for w^hich sins we confidently say with the 
prophet, ' Ab occiiltis meis, munda me, Domine. From 
my secret sins cleanse me, O Lord.' "... 

" Cap. VI. De ministro hujus Sacramenti, et Abso- 
lutione. — But as respects the minister of this sacrament, 
the Holy Synod declares all these doctrines to be false, 
and utterly alien from the truth of the Gospel, which 
perniciously extend the ministry of the keys to any other 
men soever, besides bishops and priests. ... It also 



96 Convents Expofed. 

teaches that even priests icho are held in deadly si?is, 
through the virtue of the Holy Ghost^ bestowed in ordina- 
tion^ exercise the function of remitting sins, as the minis- 
ters of Christ, and that thej think erroneously who co?i- 
teyid that this power exists not in had priests. But 
although the absolution of the priest is the dispensation 
of another's bounty, yet it is not a bare ministry only, 
whether of announcing the Gospel or of declaring that 
sins are .remitted, but it is after the manner of a ^judicial'' 
act, which by sentence is pronounced by the priest as by 
a judge. And, therefore, the penitent ought not to 
flatter himself concerning his own personal faith, as to 
think that, even though there be no contrition on his 
part, or no intention on the part of the priest acting 
seriously and absolving truly, he is nevertheless truly and 
in the eyes of God absolved on account of his faith alone; 
neither would faith Avithout penance bestow any remission 
of sins, nor would he be otherwise than most negligent 
of his own salvation who should know that a priest but 
absolved him in jest, and should not sedulously seek for 
another who would act in earnest." 

It will be observed that the penitent is to examine all 
the folds of his (or her) conscience ;* and in order that 
no fold should be left unexamined, the church of Rome 
places in the hands of all her members — boys and girls 
just reaching years of puberty — certain questions or 
heads for self-examination. They may be found in any 
Roman Catholic manual of devotion, such, for instance, 
as " Challoner's Garden of the Soul." We cannot thkik 

* Modesty must not interfere. De La Hogue De Pcen, says : 
'•Pudorem ilium prorsus humauum quantuseumque sit, a Poenitente 
superandum esse, et nolenti denegandum esse absolutionem." — P. 168. 
Coyne's Dublin Ed. 1825. 



1 



Convents Expofed. 97 

of polluting our pages by transcribing tlie directions 
which a Roman Catholic bishop wrote, and which Roman 
Catholic bishops now place in the hands of Roman 
Catholic young American ladies, as a manual of devotion. 

They will be found under the heads for self-examina- 
tion upon the sixth (that is the seventh) commandment. 
The " Garden of the Soul," it must be remembered, is 
written by a bishop, is universally recommended, and is 
described " as the most popular prayer-book of the Ro- 
man Catholics." 

We have also before us " A manual for Confession and 
Communion for those who frequent the Oratory of St. 
Philip Neri, King William Street, Strand," and from it 
we shall learn the kind of authority with w^hich the con- 
fessor is represented as being invested : 

DIRECTIONS TO BE OBSERVED IN MAKING THE CONFESSION. 

1. "Having prepared yourself for confession, go to 
your confessor with great humility and modesty, and 
imagine to yourself that you are about to present your- 
self before Jesus Christ himself, who sees the depth of 
your heart, and will one day judge you. If you are 
obliged to wait, keep yourself all the time in devout 
silence and recollection, and renew your act of sorrow 
for your sins. Fancy yourself a criminal bound with 
chains, who has been tried and convicted, and is called 
before the judge whom he has insulted and offended. 

2. " When at the feet of your confessor, kneel down 
with the greatest reverence and humility, imagining that 
you are at the feet of Jesus crucified, who desires to 
hear from your own lips, a sincere confession of all your 
sins, and is ready to pardon you for them, if you really 
repent of them, and to wash you in His own most pre- 

5 



98 Convents Expofed. 

cious blood, by means of His minister and the sacramental 
absolution. It is, indeed, true, that while the \Yord of 
God declares that " it is a shame even to speak of these 
things which are done in secret," popery not only 
authorizes sin, but gives occasion to practice it. What 
must be the effect of these books, which furnish the 
daily meditations of the professed penitents? "Where 
is the self-respect of a woman who can prostrate herself 
at the feet of a man, and miveil the most secret and 
hidden feelings, as to God ? Think, oh ! think of the 
purity put uj)on such a test, called to violate the very 
instincts of nature, in making such a recital to a man ! 
Dangerous at any time, but oh! how awful for those 
espoused nuns thus incarcerated, to be examined and re- 
examined, sifted and searched every day by men, who 
are themselves under professed vows of celibacy ! The 
Rev. John Gother, a Roman Catholic, writing on con- 
fession, says : 

" That in all mortal sins, he (the penitent) discovers 
the number, that is, how often he has fallen into each 
sort of sin ; there being a great difference betwixt com- 
mitting a sin twice or thrice, and twenty or thirty times 
. . . "That he explain such circumstances as change 
the nature of the sin, or at least considerably aggravate 
it; and, therefore, because there is a great difference 
betwixt robbing a church and another place; betwixt 
cheating or stealing five shillings and five hundred pounds; 
betwixt a married person and a single ; in sins of impur- 
ity, etc., etc." He also gives minute directions for exami- 
nation on the sixth and the seventh commandments. 

St. Alphonsus M. Liguori, Bishop of St. Agatha and 
founder of the congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, 
was born 172G, and died 1787. He was canonized with 
five others, by the late Pope Gregory XVI. in 1839. 



Convents Expofed. . 99 

This saint wrote a book, to which we have before re- 
ferred, " The True Spouse of Christ, or, the Nun Sanctified 
by the Virtues of her State." As he is the model saint of 
Cardinal Wiseman, of England, and of all the Romish 
liierarchy in the United States, we proceed to give this 
high authority upon many important facts. 

At page 549 he heads a section thus : " What ought a 
person to do loho finds she has become a nun against her 
inclination f I answer : If at the time of your profes- 
sion you had not a vocation, I would not have advised 
you to make the vows of a religieuse, but I would have 
advised you to suspend your resolution of going back to 
the world, and casting yourself into the many dangers of 
perdition found in the world. I now see you placed in 
the house of God, and made, either voluntarily or unwill- 
ingly, the spouse of Jesus Christ. I add: grant what 
you say is true ; now that you are professed in a convent, 
and that it is impossible for you to leave it^ tell me what 
you do wish to do. If you have embraced religion (i. e. 
become a nun), you must now remain with cheerfulness. 
If you abandon yourself to melancholy, you must lead a 
life of misery, and will expose yourself to great danger 
of suffering a hell here, and another hereafter. You 
must then make a virtue of necessity. And if the devil 
has brought you into religion (i. e. a nunnery) for your 
destruction, let it be your care to avail yourself of your 
holy state, for your salvation, and become a saint." 
Being asked his opinion regarding a person who had be- 
come a nun against her will, St. Francis de Sales answered; 
" It is true that this clfild, if she had not been obliged by 
her parents, would not have left the world ; but this is oi 
little importance, provided she knows that the force em- 
ployed by her parents is more useful to her than the per 



lOO . Convents Expofed. 

mission to follow her Tvill ; for now she can say, ' If I had 
not lost such liberty, I should have lost true liberty.' 
The saint! meant to say, that had she not been com- 
pelled by her parents to become a nun, she would have 
remained in the world." 

This canonized Jesuit has furnished various features of 
this system, which shows the most tremendous power 
wielded by the priest. To conceal anything from him 
from fear or shcnne^ is called l>ing to the Holy Ghost ; to 
him is given the absolute power to remit sin ; the entire 
conscience must be revealed to him ; the manuals in the 
nun's hands presuppose her guilty of things at which her 
purity recoils. She interrogates herself ; have I done so 
and so ? and how often ? Then follow the indecent ques- 
tions from her confessor, drilled in the same school of 
impurity. 

The Romish authority admits there are nuns against 
their will. Take one of this class, forced into a life against 
which her nature recoils ; with no s}Tnpathy, debarred 
the association of her fellow prisoners ; ground down to 
a life of servile obedience ; obliged, for the least devia- 
tion or omission of an Ave Maria, to kneel for hours, to 
kiss the ground before her superior's feet ; to lick a cross 
upon the floor ; to eat her food like a cat,* from a dish 
placed on the ground, without using her hands; the 
confessional, then, is the only relief her pained heart can 
positively find ; the confessor, then, her only friend ! 

Dens' Theology, the text book of every Romish bishop 
and priest, has a clause headed : " On Just Causes for 
Promoting Sensuality." " Just causes," says Dens, " are 

* To eat with cats is a punishment literally practised in the Capuchin 
monastries. The culprits sit on the ground in common with the cats, 
of which there are always a number in these houses. 



Convents Expofed. 101 

the hearing of confessions ; the reading of cases of con- 
science drawn up for a confessor ; necessary or useful 
attendance on an invalid; but," he adds, "the confessor 
so affected, by the hearing of confessions, ought not on 
that account, to abstain from hearing them." The same 
writer has a chapter on the " proximate cause of sin." 
It is defined to be that which brings a moral or probable 
danger of mortal sin. He mentions several cases, as 
drunkenness, or conversing with a young woman. In 
this book it is deliberately taught, that it is only when 
a confessor falls as often as two or three times a month, 
that he is in any danger of mortal sin. Once a month 
is clearly allowed. 

Another fact unknown to Protestants is, that every 
confessor, secular or regular, must have a license from 
the bishop before he can hear confession in a diocese. 

The directions called Pagelle, differ according to the 
bishop's jurisdiction. 

We have two specimens of these licenses, granted in 
1836 and 1838, in Naples, and signed by two bishops. 
In these licenses we find special allusion to the danger of 
the confessor, as well as the reserved cases, in which the 
bishop reserves to himself, the power to absolve. 

The power thus invested in the bishops is absolute. 
Not merely to exercise the right of enforcing their un- 
changing system of polluting theology, as Dens' or 
Bailey's, but to improve by Jesuit ingenuity, the means 
of enforcing their despotism upon the whole country. 

In the work of St. Alphonsus M. Liguori, called the 
"Nun Sanctified," we read chapter 1, " On the excellence 
of virginity consecrated to God, in the religious state." 
Virgins who dedicate themselves to Christ, by commend- 
ing to him the " lily of their purity," are as dear to God as 



102 Convents Expofed. 

his angels. Besides, whoever consecrates her virginity 
to Jesus Christ, becomes his spouse." 

"A religieuse on the day of profession, is espoused to 
Jesus Christ, for the bishop says to the novice, ' I espouse 
thee to Jesus Christ ; may he preserve thee inviolate. Re- 
ceive, then, as his spouse, the ring of faith, that if thou 
serve him with fidelity, he may give thee an eternal 
crown.' We learn from St. Ambrose, that the virgin St. 
Agnes, when offered for husband the son of the Roman 
prefect, answered, ' she had found a better spouse.' " 

He gives a number of instances where saints refused 
the cro^^aied heads of Europe, Louis XL, Ferdinand 
XL, Henry Archduke of Austria, in order to espouse 
Jesus Christ ! 

Page 4 treats of the misfortunes of the married state, the 
associations of the family, the horrors of young children 
and servants, and says : " The greatest misfortune is to 
be in continual danger of losing the grace of God, and 
their own immortal souls." 

Page 10 : " To preserve her body and soul free from 
Btain, a virgin must chastise her flesh,by fasting, abstinence^ 
by disciplines, which is the saintly name of scourgiiig, and 
other penitential works. 

Page 522 : " In correcting the religieux, attend to two 
things. The first is, not to have recourse to chastisement^ 
(i.e. whipping) I mean severe chastisement, (i.e., they 
may be whipped a little) unless when it is absolutely 
necessary for the amendment of a sister, or for the ex- 
ample of others, and then, of course, whip them severely. 

" Seve?'e remedies,''' he adds, " are applied to diseases 
otherwise incurable." So the Abbess flogs at her dis- 
cretion ! 

Chapter H., "On the advantages of the Religious 



Convents Expofed. 103 

State," St. Bernard is quoted. Page 19 : "Is not that a 
holy state, in which a man lives more purely, falls more 
rarely, rises more speedily, walks more cautiously, is be- 
dewed more frequently, rests more serenely, dies more 
confidently, is purged more quickly, and rewarded more 
abundantly." On each of these heads St. Alphonsus 
elaborates. "A religieuse performs these duties by 
obedience, that is, by the holy will of God. For in her 
rule, and in the commands of her superior^ she hears his 
voice.^^ Pasje 23 : " Jesus refreshed his spouse at prayers, 
communion, in the holy sacrament, and in the cell before 
the crucifix !" Page 26 : "A religieuse in the convent 
enjoys a foretaste of paradise, or suffers a7i anticipation 
ofhelV 

That is to he foeced agaixst the iNcu^fAxioxs of 
NATURE, by the will of others ! ! ! To be distrusted^ des- 
pised^ reproved, and chastised by those with whom we 
live ; TO be shut up ix a place of confijtement, from 
WHICH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO ESCAPE ; — in a word, it is to 
be in continued toetuee without a moment's peace. 
Page 26. 

Page 28 : "... Why wear the habit of a religieuse, if 
in heart and soul you be a secular? "Why wear it, 
you Jesuit St. Alphonsus ! why wear it ? Because you 
have told her she cannot take it off; you have just told 
her it is impossible to escape.'''^ 

Page 32: "The religieuse suffers to render herself 
more acceptable to God. I hold as certain, that the 
greater number of seraphic thrones vacated by Lucifer 
and his associates, will be filled by religieux. Out of 
sixty, enrolled during the, last century, in the catalogue 
of saints and honored as the blessed, all, with the ex:- 
ception of five or six, belonged to the religious orders." 



104 Convents Expofed. 

Chapter III., "The religienx should belong entirely to 
God. The Redeemer bears every imj)erfection more 
patiently than a divided heart. ' Receive,' said the 
bishoj) at consecration of the veil, ' that thou admit no 
lover but him.' The church commands the religieux 
to change their names at their profession, that they may 
forget the world. If an earthly object steal into her 
heart, she should say : ' Begone pernicious affection, for 
another lover more noble, more faithful, and more ac- 
ceptable than you has loved me before I could love him, 
and has taken possession of my soul : my spouse is the 
Lord, the king of heaven and earth ; I am espoused to 
him whom angels serve.' " Thus are they taught to love 
the Lord Jesus Christ as a human suitor ! 

Page 37: "Who can behold virgins of noble family 
and splendid fortunes* desj^ising the pomp and pleasures 
of the world, and shutting themselves up in a convent to 
live in poverty and abjection ; who, I say, can behold 
these holy virgins, without exclaiming, 'This is the 
generation of them that seek the Lord.' " 

Chapters Y. and VI. are " On the danger to which an 
imperfect religieuse exposes her salvation." Page 75 : 
" Oh, God ! how many religieux are there, who, be- 
cause they do not disengage their hearts from certain 
earthly attractions, never become saints." Page 85 : "A 
religieuse should examine if they arise from familiarity 
with any person, within or without the monastery." 

« One nun does not know the name of another : it is sister Mary 
Joseph, or sister Mary Magdalen. The property of wealthy nuns is 
immediately renounced to the convent, as well as their name. Im- 
mense wealth has thus accrued to these polluted institutions in our 
own country. It is in wealthy families that Jesuits make their insinu- 
ating addresses to entrap young ladies. 



Convents Expofed. 105 

Chapter VII., " On abnegation of self-love," says : " If 
you receive a letter, abstain from opening it for some 
time. ... If you desire to read the termination of an 
interesting narrative, defer it until another time. ... If 
you feel inclined to look at an object, to pluck a flower, 
suppress these inclinations, for the love of Jesus Christ. 
. . . Father Leonard, of Port Maurice, relates that a 
servant of God performed eight acts of mortification in 
eating an egg, and, as a reward, eight degrees of grace, 
and as many of glory, were bestowed upon her." Page 
99 : " Nothing is more injurious than to be guided by 
their own will. * Whoever,' says St. Bernard, ' consti- 
tutes himself his otnti master, becomes the disciple of a 
fool.' " Page 113 : " Consider, in obeying your supe- 
riors, that you obey God himself, and that, in despising 
their commands, we despise the authority of our Divine 
Master, who has said, 'He that heareth you, heareth 
me.' — Luke x; 16. . . . When a religieuse receives a 
precept from her prelate, superior or confessor, she should 
immediately execute it, not only to please men, but prin- 
cipally to please God, whose will is made known to her 
by their command. In obeying their directions, she is 
more certain of obeying the will of God, than if an angel 
came down from heaven to manifest his will to her." 
Page 114: "It maybe added, that there is more cer- 
tainty of doing the will of God hy obedience to mpe- 
riors, than by obedience to Jesus Christ, shoidd He ap- 
pear in person and give his commands ; because, should 
Jesus Christ appear to a religieuse, she would not be 
certain whether it was He that spoke, or an evil spirit." 
Page 122 : "In a word, the only way by which a reli- 
gieuse can be a saint, and be saved, is to observe her rule ; 
for her there is no other way that leads to salvation f ! " 
5^- 



io6 Convents Expofed. 

(Jesus says, " I am the way : no man cometh to the 
Father, but by me.") Page 143: "The fourth and last 
degree of obedience is to obey with simplicity. St. Mary 
Magdalene de Pazzi says, ' Perfect obedience requires a 
soul without a will, and a will without an intellect." 
Page 145 : " To regard as good whatever superiors com- 
mand, is the hlind obedience so much practised by the 
saints, and is the duty of every religieuse." Page 147 : 
"To try the obedience of their subjects, superiors some- 
times impose commands that are inexpedient, or even 
absurd. St. Francis commanded his disciples to plant 
cabbages with their roots uppermost." 

Chapter VIII. treats of the " External mollification of 
the senses." Page 149: "Our Lord once said to St. 
Francis, of Assium, * If you desire my love, use bitters as 
sweets and sweets as bitters." Page 151: "If we read 
the lives of saints, and see the works of penance which 
they performed, we shall be ashamed of the delicacy and 
of the reserve with which we chastise the flesh. In the 
lives of the ancient Fathers, we read of a large commu- 
nity of nuns who never tasted fruit or wine. Some of 
them took food only once every day ; others never eat a 
meal, except after two or three days of rigorous absti- 
nence ; and all were clothed, and even slept, in hair-cloth. 
I do not require such austerities from the religieuse in 
the present day; but is it too much for them to take the 
discipline several times in the week f — to wear the chain 
round some part of the body till the hour of (Snner ? 
— not to approach the fire in winter— to abstain from 
fruit and sweetmeats, and, in honor of the Mother of 
God, to fast every Saturday on bread and water, or at 
least to be content with one dish ? If you cannot (from 
ill-health) chasten your body by positive rigor, abstain, 



Convents Expofed. 107 

at least, from some lawful pleasure." Page 156: *'To 
animate your fervor in the practice of mortification, I 
shall here place before your eyes what St. John Climacus 
saw in a monastery called the Prison of Penitents: 
* I saw,' says the saint, * some of them standing the whole 
night in the open air, to overcome sleep. I saw others 
with their eyes fixed on heaven, and with tears begging 
for mercy from God. Others stood wdth their hands 
bound behind their shoulders, and their heads bowed 
down, as if they were unworthy to raise their eyes to 
heaven. Others remained on ashes, with their heads be- 
neath their knees, and beat the ground with their fore- 
heads. Others deluged the floor with their tears. Other* 
stood in the burning rays of the sun. Others, parched 
with thirst, were content with taking a few drops of 
water to prevent death. Others took a mouthful of 
bread, and then threw it out, saying, * He who has been 
guilty of brutish actions is unworthy of the food of men.' 
Some had their cheeks furrowed by continual streams of 
tears, and others their eyes wasted away. Others struck 
their breasts with such violence that they began to spit 
blood ; and I saw all with faces so pallid and emaciated, 
that they appeared to be so many corpses." 

Then comes a section " On the sanctification of the 
eyes, and our modesty in general." Page 159 : " 'Through 
the eyes,' says St. Bernard, ' the deadly arrows of love 
enter.' — Sec. 13. St. Bernard, after being three years a 
novice, could not tell whether his cell was vaulted. The 
saints were particularly cautious not to look at persons 
of a different sex. St. Hugh, bishop, when compelled to 
speak with women, never looked them in the face. St. 
Clare would never fix her eyes on the face of a man. 
She was .greatly afl9icted, when, raising her eyes at the 



io8 Convents Expofed. 

elevation of the host, she once involuntarily saw the face 
of the priest. St. Louis Gonzaga never looked his own 
mother in the face. For once looking deliberately at a 
woman who was gathering ears of corn, the abbot, Pas- 
ter, was tormented for forty years by the temptation 
against chastity." Page 162: "Except in looking at 
such objects (sacred images, etc.), a religieuse should in 
general keep the eyes cast down. In conversing ^yiih 
men, she should never roll the eyes about to look at 
them, and much less to look at them a second time." 
Page 164 : " A religieuse should be modest in her walk. 
*Let your gait,' says St. Basil, 'be neither slow nor vehe- 
ment.' Your walk, to be modest, must be grave — nei- 
ther too quick nor too sIoav.' " 

"On the mortification of the appetite," page 169, 
" Saint Gregory relates, that a certain nun, seeing 
in the garden a very fine lettuce, pulled and eat in 
opposition to her rule. She was instantly possessed of 
the devil, who tormented her grievously. Her compani- 
ons called to her aid the holy Abbot Eqnitius, to whom 
the demon said, AYhat evil have I done ? I sat upon the 
lettuce ; she came and eat it." Page 170 : " Besides, he 
who gratifies the taste readily indulges the other senses ; 
for, having lost the spirit of recollection, he will commit 
faults by indecent words and unbecoming gestures." 

" On the mxortification of the senses of hearing, smell, 
and touch," page 180, says : " Every fault committed by 
the indulgence of touch, exposes the soul to the danger 
of eternal death." Again: ^'- Hair clothes are of vari- 
ous kinds; some are made of strong coarse hair, and 
others are bands or chains of brass or iron wire. The 
former may be injurious to persons of delicate constitu- 
tions, as Father Scaramelli remarks, they inflame the flesh 



Convents Expofed. 109 

and -weaken the stomach. The latter may be worn on 
the arras, legs or shoulders, without injury to the health, 
but not on the breast or body. These are the ordinary 
species of hair cloth, and may be safely used by all. St. 
Rose of Lima, used a long hair shirt interwoven with 
needles, and carried a broad chain around her loins. St. 
Peter of Alcantara, wore on his shoulders a plate of iron, 
which was covered with sharp projections that kept the 
flesh in a continual state of laceration. Would it be too 
much for you to wear a small band of iron from morning 
to the hour of dinner? "* 

Page 181 : " Disciplines or flagellations are a species 
of mortification strongly recommended by St. Francis 
Sale, and universally adopted in religious communities of 
both sexes. All the modern saints, ^vithout a single ex- 
ception, have continually practised this sort of penance. 
It is related of St. Lewis of Gonzaga, that he often 
scourged himself unto blood three times a day. Surely 
then it would not be too much for you to take the dis- 
cipline once in the day, or at least three or four times in 
the week. Vigils or Watchings consist in the retrench- 
ment of sleep. Of St. Peter of Alcantara we read, that 
for forty years he slept but one hour, or at most an hour 
and a half each night." Page 182 : " The saints have 
not only curtailed sleep, but practised various mortifica- 
tions in the manner of taking repose. The venerable 
sister Mary Crucified, of Sicily, used a pillow of thorns." 

A religieuse should not seek a bed of down ; if a straw 
bed be not injurious to her health, why should she require 
a mattrass of hair ? St. Francis Borgia was obliged to 

* This, reader, is rather harsh treatment for dehcate American ladies ; 
but here is the most unquestionable authority that they do it who 
are veiled victims. 



110 Convents Expofed. 

remain all night under the snow which fell heavily. " Be 
assured," said the saint, " that though I suffered much in 
the body, I have been consoled in the spirit by the re- 
flection that God rejoiced in my pains /" 

As this " Nun Sanctified" is the book of St. Alphonsus 
Liguori, which has been translated and published for the 
use of English and American nuns and postulants, we 
wish every citizen of our land to understand more about it. 

In the Roman Catholic Directory for 1846, p. 167, it is 
stated that before St. Alphonsus was canonized in 1839, 
all his writings, whether printed or inedited, were more 
than twenty times rigorously discussed by the sacred con- 
gregation of rites, which decreed that not one word in 
them had been worthy of censure. It is no wonder, then, 
that this recently made saint is the peculiar favorite of Car- 
dinal Wiseman, and the Romish authorities of the U.S. 

Rev. Blanco White, once a Roman Catholic, whom 
Dr. Newman describes " as year after year holding the 
Lord in his hands^ dispensing Sim to his people," and 
of whom he says : " I have the fullest confidence in his 
word, when he witnesses to facts, and facts which he 
knew :" " who had special means of knowing a Catho- 
lic country, and a man you can trust."* Mr. White's 
testimony was published in 1826 in three octavo volumes. 
"I cannot," says he, "find tints sufficiently dark to por- 
tray the miseries which I have witnessed in the convents. 
Crime, in spite of the spiked walls and prison grates, is 
there. The gates of the holy prison are for ever closed 
upon the inhabitants; force and shame await thera 
wherever they might fly ; the short vows of their profes- 
sion, like a potent charm, bind them to one spot of earth, 

* See Lectures on the Present Position of QUholics in England, by John 
Henri/ Neicman, D.D. 1851. 



Convents Expofed. ill 

and fix their dwelling upon their grave. The great poet 
who boasted that " slaves cannot live in England " forgot 
that superstition may baffle the most sacred laws of free- 
dom. Slaves do live in England, and multiply daily by 
the same arts which fill all the convents abroad. In vain 
does the law of the land stretch a friendly hand to the 
victim ; she may be dying to break her fetters ; the 
mark of slavery is burnt by the Church into her soul, 
without the possibility of repenting of vows made for a 
whole life, of which she has seen but the dawn ! 

Page 206 : " . . . The nun who leaves her rela- 
tives in effect and affection, shall obtain eternal beatitude 
in heaven, and a hundred fold on earth ; she will leave a 
few, and find many sisters in religion ; she will abandon 
a father and mother, and in return shall have God for her 
father and Mary for her mother." St. Benedict, who is 
regarded as the model for all monastic rules, recites the 
fifth commandment thus : " Honor all men," (instead of 
" Honor thy father and mother, that thy days may be 
long in the land which the Lord, thy God, giveth thee.") 
Page 206 : " Hence, convinced that attachment to relatives 
is displeasing to God, the saints have sought to be wholly 
removed from them. For my part, says St. Teresa, I 
cannot conceive what consolation a nun can find in her 
relatives. By attachment to them she displeases God. 
When your parents and friends come to the grate, they 
certainly cannot make you a partaker of their worldly 
amusements; for you cannot go beyond the limits of 
your enclosure. Ah, if you keep aloof from them, what 
torrents of consolation and happiness would your spouse, 
Jesus, infuse into your soul." 



1 1 2 Convents Expofed. 

" I saw," says Blanco White, " my own sister enter 
one of the gloomiest convents of Seville, where the nuns 
were obliged to sleep on a few planks raised about a foot 
from the ground, where the use of linen was forbidden 
near the body. The nuns wore coarse open sandals, 
through which the bare foot was exposed to the wet and 
cold ; where the nearest relations were not allowed to see 
the face of the recluse, nor have any communication, ex- 
cept on certain days, when in the presence of another 
nun, and with a thick curtain close behind the double 
railing which separates the inmates of the convent, the 
parent, brother, or sister, exchanged a few unmeaning 
words with the dear one, whom they had lost forever. I 
choke now with feelings of indignation as I recall the pic- 
ture of Father sitting near my sister, where, in the 

presence of my mother, I was betrayed into a burst of in- 
dignation which darkened the priest's brow, and con- 
vinced me he w^as thinking of the Inquisition. I saw this 
sister once more ; she was on her death-bed. In my ca- 
pacity of priest I heard her last confession. When shall 
I forget the mortal agony, with which not to disturb her 
dying moments, I suppressed my gushing tears, until 
with faltering steps I left the convent, making the soli- 
tary street w^here it stood, reecho the sobs I could no 
longer contain. 

" Another sister was left to me, but at the age of twenty 
she, too, misled by Catholic impressions, left her infirm 
mother in the care of servants and strangers, and was 
shut up in a convent, where she was not allowed to see 
the nearest relatiA'e. With a delicate frame, requiring 
every comfort, she embraced a rule, which denied her 
those of the lowest class in life. A coarse woolen fi'ock 
fretted her skin, her feet had no covering that they might 



I 



Convents Expofed. 113 

be exposed to a brick floor, a plank her bed, and an un- 
furnished cell her dwelling. I have often endured the 
torture of witnessing her agony at the confessional. I 
left her when I quitted Spain, dying much too slowly for 
her own relief. I wept bitterly for her loss two years 
later, yet I could not be so cruel as to wish her alive." 
*' Of all the victims of the church of Rome, the nuns de- 
serve the greatest sympathy. The real nunnery is a bye- 
word for weakness of intellect, and the nun, the superla- 
tive of old woman. I have seen the human mind in all 
stages of debasement, but souls more polluted than some 
of those professed vestals of the Church of Rome, have 
never come under my observation. 

"The undisguised disclosure of many victims in confes- 
sion assures me, that the policy of Rome reckons on the 
alarming feelings of delicacy, as a security against the 
publication of facts, which would raise a formidable cry 
of indignation in countries not completely under the au- 
thority of the pope, and I feel bound to bear witness to 
these terrible results, to which the Roman Catholic 
Church is utterly indifferent." 

We make no comment on the above evidence, from the 
pen of a witness, who appears with a certificate of char- 
acter ftom Rev. John Newman, D. D. ! Every sensible 
mind will apply it to the convents of his own country. 

The next Roman Catholic author, from whom we quote, 
says : " Nunneries are not sanctuaries of God, but recepta- 
cles for . . deeds. . It is the same thing to put a nun''s veil 
on a girl, as to expose her to public prostitution^ " Nuns 
in every place, and under all circumstances, follow the ex- 
ample of the monks and priests who are placed over them." 

In the Praecepta Antiquae Dioecesis Rotomagensis," 

* See Clamenques' De Corrupto Eccl. Brown's Ap. Loud. 1690. 



iizj Convents Expofed. 

Sacro Sanct. Concil., vol. xiii, col. 1341, the 41st Precept 
is as follows : " Priests are strictly forbidden to have living 
with them, any offspring which they may have begotten, 
to avoid scandal — propter scandalum." A princess and a 
canonized saint, St. Bridget, daughter of the royal Bir- 
ger of Sweden, after being the mother of eight lawful 
children, devoted the rest of her life to founding monas 
teries. In the fourth book of her Revelations, cap. 33, she 
says : " The monks are not ashamed, but openly boast, 
when their favorite mistress, is to become a mother." 

At page 381 we read this significant passage : " Would 
to God that in aU monasteries there icere grates of punched 
iron, such as we find in some observant convents." 

There no protestant parent or guardian could obtain 
an interview with their "victims. What an awful account 
will the abbess have to give to God, who introduces open 
grates, or who neglects to make the companions attend. 
In one of her letters, St. Teresa wrote this sentence : 
" The grates, when shut, are the gates of heaven ; and 
when open, they are the gates of danger." And she 
added : " A monastery of nuns, in which there is liberty, 
serves to conduct them to hell, rather than to cure their 
weakness." 

" Oh, what rapid progress in the divine love does the 
religieuse make who never goes to the grate. In your in- 
tercourse with seculars, you should not only guard against 
all affectionate expressions, but should be very grave and 
reserved at the grate. St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi 
wished her nuns to be as uncultivated as the wild deer ; 
these are her very words. In a monastery of the vener- 
able Sister Seraphina da Carpi, two females began to talk 
of a certain marriage ; the attendant at the turn* heard 

* A sort of box, revolviug on it3 axis, by which goods are passed 
mto the nunneries. 



Convents Expofed. ii^ 

the voice of Sister Seraphina, (who was dead,) saying : 
* Chase away, chase away these women.' " 

" On Solitude," (page 366 :)".... Whoever loves 
God, loves solitude ..... God speaks not at the 
grates, nor in the ' belvediere,' nor in any other place in 
which the religieux indulge in useless laughter and idle 
talk. The Lord is not in the earthquake. * 'Non in 
commotione Dominus.' " 

Page 367 : " There is no one more deserving of pity 
than a nun, who being unable to go into the world, 
brings the world to herself, by conversing with seculars, 
and by seeking to learn what happens in the neighbor- 
hood." 

" In a certain convent of St. Francis there was an 
idle brother going about the house ; now troublesome 
to one, and again to another. The saint called him 
Brother Fly. Would to God, that in monasteries there 
were not Sisters Fly, constantly going about observing 
who is at the grate, or at the confession, who send and 
receive presents and the like. Such religieux would 
deserve, like flies, to be expelled the house, or at least be 
shut up in a prison ! " 

St. Alphonsus tells us for what purpose the prisons are 
needed ; they are a part of the nunnery-discipline, for 
the Church of the Inquisition. 

Chapter XVII., " On Spiritual Reading," but not one 
word is said of the Bible ; except at p. 392, where we find 
this passage: "But before all, the apostle's prescribed 
spiritual reading to Timothy: * attend unto reading.'" 
Now, this " Spiritual Reading," has nothing whatever 
to do with the Word of God. 

The poor nun knows that her "Spiritual Reading" 
is the perusal of that infamous and polluting Breviary, 



ii6 Convents Expofed. 

which the bishop solemnly puts in her hand at her conse- 
cration. 

At page 396, we find this passage : " How many saints 
have, by reading a spiritual book been induced to forsake 
the world and give themselves to God ? It is knowTi to 
all that St. Augustine, when miserably chained by his 
passions and vices, was, by reading one of the epistles of 
St. Paul enlightened with divine light ; went forth from 
his darkness and began to lead a holy life. Thus, also 
St. Ignatius, while a soldier, by reading a volume of the 
lives of the saints, which he accidentally took up, in order 
to get rid of the bed to which he was confined by sick- 
ness, was led to commence a life of sanctity, and became 
the father and founder of the Society of Jesus, (f) an 
order which has done so much for the Church." We here 
see that St. Paul's Epistle is treated as the legends of St. 
Rose of Lima, or St. Teresa, in the Breviary ! Page 397 on 
" Spiritual Reading" we read : " St. Phillip devoted all the 
vacant hours he could procure to the reading of spiritual 
books, and particularly the lives of the saints. If you ask 
me what book is most useful for a religieuse, first I tell 
you, to read the books you find best calculated to excite 
your devotion and to move you most powerfully to unite 
your soul with God. Of this character are the works of 
St. Francis de Sales, of St. Teresa, of Father Granada, of 
Rodriguez, of Sangiure, of Nieremberg, of Pinamonti, and 
other similar books ; and particularly the Admonitions to 
Religieux, by the Fathers of St. Maur ; and the Ascetic 
Directory of Father Scaramelli, a modern work, full of 
unction. In general, I advise you to lay aside works 
hard to be understood, and to read books of devotion, 
written in a plain and simple style. Be careful also, 
to read the subjects which wiU contribute most to your 



Convents Expofed. 117 

perfection. Among the rest, read frequently the lives of 
the saints, and particularly those who have been religious, 
such as the life of St. Teresa, of St. Mary Magdalene de 
Pazzi, of St. Catharine of Sienna, of St. Jane Chanlat, 
of the venerable Francis Farnese, of the venerable Sister 
Seraphina da Capri, of St. Peter of Alcantara, of St. John 
of the Cross, of St. Francis Borgia, of St. Aloysius Gon- 
zaga, etc. Read frequently the lives of the holy martyrs, 
particularly of so many holy young virgins, who have 
given their lives to Jesus Christ. You can use the lives 
of saints, published by Father Crasset. Oh, how profit- 
able is the reading of the lives of saints ! " 

There are other pages directing the way of spiritual 
reading ; but except, in the two instances, to which we 
have referred; there is not the remotest hint whatever, 
that God ever gave any revelation to mankind ! Not 
only is the Word of God kept from the poor helpless nuns, 
but the most pernicious poison is given in its place. In- 
stead of the blessed Bible, which alone makes wise to 
salvation ; the nuns and seculars read fables and blasphemy. 

Chapter XVIII., is on the importance of confession, 
p. 403. " Every one knows that for a good confession 
three things are necessary : an examination of conscience, 
sorrow, and a purpose to avoid sin." Anything like loving 
a friend or relative, the nun is taught, keeps her from 
God. (P. 407,) " To St. Ludgard, whiles he was entangled 
in a dangerous friendship, Jesus appeared, and shewed her 
his heart grievously wounded. The saint began to weep 
at her fault, took leave of her friend, saying she could, 
love none other than Christ, to whom she was espoused." 
. . . . " But a nun, may perhaps be tempted to con- 
ceal a sin in confession. A certain nun may have a mis- 
fortune of falling into mortal sin ; the devil endeavors to 



ii8 Convents Expofed. 

lock her mouth and to make her ashamed to confess her 
sin. Oh! God how many souls shall on account of 
this accursed shame, burn and burn forever in hell, or 
rather in the bottom of hell." In the Chronicles of the 
Carmelites (tom. iii, hb. 10, c. 34), it is related, that a 
young girl of great virtue consented to sin against chas- 
tity, she concealed the sin three times in confession and 
went to communion ; after the third conmiunion she fell 
dead. Because she was considered to be a saint, her 
body was laid in a particular part of the Church of the 
Jesuits ; but after the obsequies were finished and the 
church closed, the confessor was conducted by two angels 
to the place of interment ; she came forth, fell on her 
knees, and threw from her mouth into a chalice prepared 
for them, the three consecrated hosts, which had been 
sacrilegiously received and miraculously preserved in her 
breast. The angels stripped her of the scapular, and the 
miserable girl presented a horrible aspect, and was carried 
out of sight by two devils." 

"We come now to a long section " On Communion and 
reception of the Blessed Sacrament." " The other 
sacraments contain the gifts of God, but the Holy 
Eucharist is God himself" Again, at p. 453, "This 
j^aradise (of the holy sacrament) religieux can enjoy, 
in a special manner. It is true Jesus remains in the 
holy sacrament for all, but he remains particularly for 
nuns, his spouses, who enjoy his society, day and night, 
within their own very house. To visit Jesus Christ, 
seculars have to leave their houses and go to church, 
which is closed at night, and in many places is open only 
in the morning, but a nun need not leave her own dwel- 
ling in order to enjoy the society of Jesus Christ, he re- 
mains continually in the house in which she dwells. A 



Convents Expofed. 119 

nun, then, can visit him whenever she pleases, morning or 
evening, hy day or night." 

Page 445 : " St. Phillip Neri, when he saw the most 
holy viaticum brought into his room, was all on fire with 
holy love, and exclaimed, ' Behold my love !' Do you 
say the same when you remain before the holy tabernacle? 
Consider that your spouse, shut up in that prison of love, 
is burning with love for you." 

Page 454 : " Our Lord complained to his servant, 
sister Margaret Alacoque, to whom he showed one day 
his divine heart, burning with flames of love for men, and 
said to her," etc. . . . " If he were to come into your 
church once a year, and remain only for a single day, 
surely all would contend with each other in paying 
homage to him, and in remaining in his loving company, 
and will you leave him alone, and visit him so seldom, 
because, in order to see you more frequently in his pres- 
ence, he, in his goodness, remains continually with you V 

The 21st chapter is headed : " On Devotion to Most 
Holy Mary." This idolatry of the Virgin Mary is a 
grand feature in the nunneries and the training of nuns. 

Page 479 begins, " Oh ! how great the grounds of 
hope to the soul that trusts in the intercession of this 
great mother of God. Behold the works Avhich the holy 
church applies to Mary on her festivals. ... To in- 
spire us with confidence in this great advocate, the holy 
church invokes her under the title of powerful Virgin. 
' Virgo potens, ora pro nobis.' Hence, St. Theophilus, 
Bishop of Alexandria, has written, ' The Son is plcc^sed 
that the mother should pray to him, because he wishes 
to grant her whatever she asks, in order to repay her for 
the favor received from her in giving him flesh.'" 

Page 481 : " But what is the principal reason why 



120 Convents Expofed. 

Mary's prayers are so powerful before God ? St. Anto- 
nine says, ' The prayer of the mother of God partakes of 
the nature of a command, hence it is impossible that she 
should not be heard.' " 

At page 485 we read : "The Lord has constituted 
Mary the universal advocate of all." 

Page 486 : " St. Bridget heard our Saviour say to his 
mother, ' You w^ould show mercy even to the devil, were 
he to ask with humility.' The proud Lucifer will never 
humble himself so far as to recommend himself to Mary, 
but were he to humble himself to this divine mother, and 
ask her aid, she would not cast him off, but would deliver 
him (the devil) from hell by her intercession." 

Page 487 : " The holy church wishes we should call 
this divine mother our Hope — ' sj^es nostra salve.' The 
impious Luther said, ' God alone is our hope, and God 
himself curses them who place their hope in any creature.' 
Yes, but we hope in Mary as a mediatrix with God." 
The Bible, with which poj^ery has nothing to do, says, 
" There is one God, and one mediator between God and 
man, the man Christ Jesus." — 1 Tim. ii., 5. This blasphe- 
my is urged with more minuteness at p. 489 as follows : 
" First, say every morning at rising, and every evening 
before going to bed, three aves, in honor of the purity 
of Mary, adding, ' O Mary, through thy pure and im- 
maculate conception, obtain for me purity of the body 
and sanctity of the soul.' Salute her also with an Ave 
Maria, as often as the clock strikes, and whenever you 
leave or return to the cell, or pass by any of her images ; 
and at the beginning of every action salute her with an 
Ave Maria — blessed shall be the actions w^hich are com- 
menced and terminated by an Ave Maria !" 

" Secondly, do not omit to say the rosary every day, or 



I 



Convents Expofed. 121 

at least five decades of it. This is a devotion practised 
generally hj all the faithful, even by seculars, and has 
been favored by the sovereign pontiff with immense in- 
dulgence. But observe, that to gain the indulgence 01 
the rosary, it is necessary to accompany the recital of 
the rosary, which is kept by the fathers of the order 
of St. Dominick, and that the beads be blessed." " Do 
not let a day pass without reading a small portion of a 
book which treats of Mary. There are many of this 
kind — True devotion towards the Blessed Virgin, by 
Father Crasset." Several others are enumerated, and St. 
Alphonsus then says : " I, too, have written a work on 
the Virgin, entitled The Glories of Mary^ of which 
several editions have been published." 

Next we turn to the "Admonition to the Abbess," 
page 518: "Be particularly careful not to permit any 
particular friendship either among the sisters or with 
externs. Be careful not to allow persons employed in 
the monastery to bring letters or inconvenient messages 
to the religieux." The " mistress of the Novices," is 
thus instructed : " Not to permit the novices to be 
familiar with the religieux, or with the postulants, 
much less with each other ; not permit them to read 
profane books, to indulge in vanity of dress, or to write 
useless letters." 

The reader will understand that a novice is only trying 
whether she would like to become a nun, and wears the 
ordinary dress. Such are all girls who enter the convents 
of our country for the purpose, ostensibly, of education. 
The postulants are they who have declared their desire 
to become nuns, and are seeking admission ; but it is 
only when these degrees have been gone through, and 
they becomes religieux, that the real picture is unveiled. 
6 



.122 Convents Expofed. 

The following occurs at page 545 : " What shall we 
say of the recreations practised in certain monasteries 
during the carnival, when some of the common exercises 
are allowed to be in private ; the good order of the com- 
munity and silence are not observed, and the nuns spend 
a part of the day in dancing, singing profane songs 
and other worldly ami«>ements. If you are invited 
to take part in any little opera, avoid it as much as 
possible, and refuse absolutely, unless the opera be 
altogether sacred." Here we have the Romish authority, 
the St. Alphonsus, informing us that operas take place 
in nunneries. The confessor, of course, is the distin- 
guished auditor ! We have further authority for saying 
that comedies are regularly performed in nunneries. One 
"witness deposes to having seen La Vjpdeva Scaltra, by 
Goldina, better acted in a nunnery than on the stage of 
a theatre. 

Is it not the duty of our legislators to take immediate 
action on this subject in the United States? 1. Let every 
State pass a law which will compel every house in .our 
land, in which communities of females, bound by religious 
vows, reside, to be registered and licensed. 

2. That this register shall furnish the real and surname, 
as well as the conventual name by which the person is 
known in the sisterhood. 

3. That a visiting committee, composed of the most 
reliable Protestant citizens, be charged with the duty of 
inspecting such houses as are in any given district. 

4. That these visits shall be frequent, and without 
previous notice, and that the nuns shall be questioned, 
apart from the abbess, lady superior, priest or confessor, 
as to whether they voluntarily remain within their walls, 
and if by compulsion, to liberate them. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE IT^QUISITIOlSr. 

Cardinal ■Wiseman— Thomas Aquinas — Inquisition now— Bishops in the United 
States sworn to support it— All Inquisitors— Inquisition active under the Eng- 
lish Government— Jesuit Treachery — Tyranny — The Foreign Consuls Tools of 
the Inquisition— The Ottoman Government -Keosse— The Past and Present 
Inquisition the same — Book of Death — The Process— Americans — Accusers to 
the Inquisitors — Parents — Children — Excommunication — The Wife— The Hus- 
band— Cruelties to Jews— Immoralities of Inquisitors — Bishop Potter, of New 
York — Pope's orders, How Given and Executed in the United States — Thomas 
Aquinas— England-Propaganda— Jesuits— Protestants— The Confessional in Eome 
—In the United States— Visiting Priests, &c.— What They Know— The Jesuits' 
Vow— Opening of the Inquisition— The Scene— The Building— The Corpses— The 
Hair— "Trap-Door"— Paintings— Prisoners— The Sight to the People— Bishop 
of Detroit — Importance — Numbers in Prison — Letters of Confessors — An In- 
stance of Cruelty — Antonelli— The Priests' Crimes — The Chains and Links in 
the Neapolitan Government— Form of Arrest — The Gay Court of Eome — The 
Flagellation of Women — Haynau — Danger and Warning to Americans. 

The Inquisition, with all the ingenious cruelty and in- 
tolerance which characterized it during the barbaroug 
ages, is yet actually and powerfully in existence. In an 
article on this fearful institution, published in Dublin, 
1850, by Cardinal Wiseman, it was insisted that the Inqui- 
sition " is necessary for the present state of society, and 
the interests of religion !" 

Thomas Aquinas, the leading theologian of the Church 
of Rome, teaches that: "It is much more grievous to 
corrupt faith, which is the source and life of the soul, 
than to corrupt money, which only tends to the relief oi 
the body. Hence, if coiners and malefactors are justly 
put to death by the secular authority, much more may 
heretics, not only be excommunicated, but put to death."* 

* See St. Thorn., 2nd 9, xi,art. 3. 

(123) 



124 ^^^ Inquilition. 

Now, if an enlightened mind should dare to disbelieve 
that the bread and wine is made the actual flesh and 
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the few words a 
priest utters over them, he has corrupted the faith of the 
Romish church, as taught by its theology ; and the inqui- 
sitor who has knowledge of the fact, lays hold of that 
man or woman, with sufficient cause to condemn the 
same to death, for the glory of God ! Some may say, 
these were the barbarous practices of the Church of 
Rome in past ages: but now it is precisely the same, 
except that poisoning is resorted to, in place of the fire 
and faggots, for the disposal of heretics. This modern 
improvement has had the effect of deceiving the Protest- 
ant world, while the secret poisoning, or secret burning 
in ovens, of the inquisition, is just as effective, and 
causes no scandal ! 

Rome is the centre of the Inquisition, but by means 
of its missionaries, its dominion extends throughout 
the world. 

If, therefore. Cardinal Wiseman or Archbishop Hughes, 
knew that any Romish subject under their jurisdiction, 
refused to believe, that the breathing the words " Hoc 
est corpus meum," by a priest, could transmute these 
elements into the real flesh and blood of our Lord, it 
would be their duty, if they had the power, to condemn 
that individual to death. They could not do less, to be 
consistent with their principles, with the logical and legal 
decisions of their theology, and be faithful to the oath by 
which every Romish bishop is bound. 

" Every bishop who is sent in partihus infidelium (hea- 
then parts), is an inquisitor, charged to discover, through 
his missionaries, whatever is done or said by others, in 
reference to Rome, with the obligation to make his report 



The Inquifition. 125 

secretly. The apostolic nuncios are all inquisitors, as also 
are the apostolic vicars." Here then, Americans, you see 
the Roman Inquisition extends its authority throughout 
these United States. The Roman Inquisition and the 
Propaganda, are in close connection with each other. 

The Pope has, within a few weeks, published an ency- 
clical letter, addressed to all primates, patriarchs, bishops, 
and archbishops, requiring them to exercise strict watch 
over all ecclesiastics having charge of souls, in the United 
States and other parts of the world ; and commanding 
mass to be performed, not only on Sundays and holy-days, 
but on every day throughout the year. This new decree, 
of June 28th, 1858, will tend, as it is designed, to increase 
the zeal of papists for the pope's Church, and thereby furnish 
to his Inquisitors in this part of his dominions, increased 
facilities for multiplying his power over this free country. 

Even in India, in the dominions of the English, the 
work of the Inquisition goes on with power. "A Romish 
priest was sent there from Rome, in March, 1840, by the 
propaganda. He was a zealous bigot, and being able to 
speak the English language, he was soon promoted to 
the bishopric of Bombay, and sent as a chaplain to the 
military camp of Belgaum. 

About this time, a Protestant clergyman named Taylor, 
performed a marriage ceremony for two Catholics, which 
greatly incensed the Romish bishop, as is usual, and he 
wrote the Protestant an insulting letter, which was kind- 
ly answered and accompanied with some Protestant 
books. The Catholic refused, of course, to read them, 
and they were returned. But, writes this Romish bishop, 
" God put it in the heart of Mr. Taylor, to call as he did 
on me. He spoke to me a new language, which I had 
never heard before, it was the language of a true Chris- 



126 The Inquifition. 

tian, (how a sinner is justified before God). This lan- 
guage, by the grace of God, touched my heart in such a 
manner, that I took a Protestant book and began to read. 
It was the " Spirit of Papacy," which opened my eyes, 
and I began to see the errors of the Church of Rome. 
Then, quite another man, I opened the Holy Bible, and 
became convinced that the Catholic religion is in perfect 
contradiction to the Word of God, and that the Protest- 
ant church was the church to which God called me; 
therefore I opened my mind to the Rev. Mr. Jackson, 
who was the military Protestant chaplain at Belgaum. 
He advised me to write to Dr. Carr, bishop of Bombay, 
which I did ; and his lordship was pleased to answer me 
in a very polite manner, begging me to write my senti- 
ments about the real presence of our Lord Jesus Christ 
in the sacrament, and a treatise on the spiritual powers 
of the Pope, which I also did ; and then he wrote me to 
go to Bombay, where I embraced the Protestant religion, 
that is to say, the pure religion of the Gospel." 

A Spanish Jesuit priest, named Francis Xavier Serra, 
whom I never saw before, called upon me in a secular 
dress, and, speaking the Italian language well, he told 
me he was an Italian layman, and, having heard I was an 
Italian too, he called on me ; but he did not mention any- 
thing about religion, saying he did not care about it, but 
he was very kind to me. 

He called on me four or five times, till, one day, being 
a very agreeable evening, he begged me to take a walk 
with him, which I did, and we went near the Catholic 
Church, and, to my surprise, I was taken by four men 
and forced to go to the vicar-general, where they forced 
me to write a letter to the Protestant minister, Mr. Val- 
entine, in whose house I lived, and there state my inten- 



The Inquifition. 127 

tion to return to the Catholic religion, which, I am very 
sorry to say, I did. They then closed me in a room till 
Sunday, when the vicar took me by force to the pulpit, 
and dictated to me what I was to say to the congregation ; 
and he obliged me to declare that I forsook the Catholic 
religion, for worldly motives, which was quite contrary 
to my sentiments. "When night came, they took me 
from the room in which I was kept, and delivered me to 
a captain of a French ship as a prisoner, with the order to 
take care of me to Marseilles, where he delivered me to 
the bishop, who, with a French priest, sent me to Rome. 
From Rome, I was sent as a punishment to a convent at 
Perugia, where I remained for five years, till I regained 
my liberty, and returned to Rome : this was in Novem- 
ber, 1848. You are not surprised to hear the treachery 
used towards me at Bombay, by that Jesuit, and by the 
vicar. The vicar, whose name is Father Michele Anto- 
nio, for his bad character, had been in jail for six months, 
by order of the British government at Bombay ! 

I live now in the most wretched state of mind, being 
from my heart a Protestant, yet I am obliged to serve 
Roman Catholic forms, which is quite contrary to my 
feelings. I am very sorry I had not in India the Chris- 
tian courage which you* have demonstrated in Rome ; 
but you must know they threatened me with brutal me- 
nace, and I was too young. 

I am at present firmly resolved to fly from this Baby- 
lon and embrace again the pure doctrine of the gospel ; 
to remain in the faith, by the grace of God, till my death, 
and to preach it throughout the world. 

Here is a very plain case showing that the Inquisition 

* Dr. Achilli, who was twice in the Inquisition, for abjuring popery 
«nd spreadig the Bible in Italy, 1849. 



128 The Inquilition. 

still exists, and how it acts througli its emissaries and 
agents, even within the limits of the British govern- 
ment. 

All that the jDublic know of this persecution at Bombay, 
was the simple announcement that the priest recanted 
and had left the country. The treachery and tricks of 
the Jesuit and vicar were kept a secret, as it is their 
custom. It is well known that the Turkish governor 
grants no protection whatever to foreigners, so that the 
consuls of Austria, France and Naples oblige the bish- 
ops, by arresting whomsoever they will, and shipping them 
as prisoners of the inquisition to Rome. A most noted 
example occurred in Constantinople in 1847: "An Ar- 
menian priest, D. Giovanne Keosse, although an Otto- 
man subject, and born in Constantinople, was seized in 
the night, by four ruffians, from the Austrian embassy, 
and hurried on board a steamer, to be conveyed to Mar- 
seilles, and from thence to Rome, to be handed to the 
inquisition. This was done by order of the Armenian 
Catholic bishop. 

Keosse was placed in the cabin of a steamer, but find- 
ing means to escape through a window into a boat, he 
embraced the precious opportunity, as the vessel was 
landing goods and passengers at Smyrna. He sought 
the protection there of the American consul, and being 
detected, abandoned the matter. Keosse, to secure him- 
self from the inquisitors, knowing it was essential to his 
safety to get out of the power of the Ottoman govern- 
ment, went to Malta. The newspapers discussed the 
matter at the time, and some of them charged the em- 
bassy with acting in concert with the inquisition." Such 
occurrences may be found in all parts of the world where 
the Roman Catholic church has a lodgment. 



^ 



The Iiiquilition. 129 

" Rev. J. R. Dodcls, ' an American missionary, sent out 
in the fall of 1856, to India, was recently driven from 
Zahleh, where he had gone to learn the Arabic language. 
So soon as he had taken a house for the residence of 
his family, one of the chief Greek Catholic priests visited 
him, and informed him, unless he left immediately, they 
would * stone' him out of the town. A few days after, 
some ten or a dozen of that order of priests, with one of 
the French Jesuits, came with mules, and told him he 
must pack up and be off. They said they were acting 
under the orders of the bishop. The woman, an old Ital- 
ian, who boarded Mr. Dodds, remonstrated, but she was 
severely beaten, and the American missionary was forced 
at a moment's notice to start for the mountains, with 
his wife and infant, a journey of eight hours, under a 
burning sun, to a brother missionary, who lived at Bham- 
doon. Mr. Dodds then went to Beyrout and reported 
the case to Mr. Moore, the English Consul-general, who 
was acting as American consul. Mr. Moore took up the 
case with great spirit, and also sent an order to the chief 
Sheiks of the place to proceed to Bhamdoon and escort 
Mr. Dodds back to the town, and held them responsible 
for his future good treatment. The Sheiks agreed to 
this, and state that it was the work of the 'priests' 
alone." 

" The inquisition of the present day in Rome, is the 
same that was instituted at the Council of Verona to burn 
Arnold of Brescia ; the same that was established at the 
third Council of Lateran to sanction the slaughter of the 
Albigenses and Waldenses, the massacre of the people, 
and the destruction of the city ; the same that was con- 
firmed at the Council of Constance, to burn alive two 
holy men, John Huss and Jerome of Prague ; that which 
6* 



130 The Inquilition. 

at Florence subjected Savonarala to the torture ; and at 
Rome condemned Aonio PalearioandPietro Carnesecclii. 
It is the same inquisition with that of Pope Caraffa and 
of Fr. Michele Gheslieri, who built the palace of the 
Holy office, where so many victims fell a sacrifice to its 
barbarity, and where at the present moment the Roman 
inquisition exists. Its laws are always the same; the 
* Black Book, or Praxis Sacra Romance Inquisitionis,' is 
always the model of that which succeeds it. This book 
is a large manuscript volume in folio, and is carefully 
preserved by the head of the inquisition. It is called 
' Libro Nero, the Black Book,' because it is covered with 
that color, or as an inquisitor explained it, is ' Libro 
Necro,' the book of the dead." 

In this book of death, the code of crime, the mode of 
accusing, and the punishment for every supposed crime, 
is given. Among the punishments for blasphemy against 
God, the virgin, the saints, or the pope, there is an in- 
strument used, called " mordacchia, or bit," which is a 
contrivance to confine the tongue, and compress it be- 
tween two cylinders of wood and iron, and furnished with 
spikes. This instrument not only wounds the tongue and 
creates intense pain, but it often so swells it as to cause 
the victim danger from suflTocation. This, reader, is what 
a human being is doomed to suffer for speaking against 
the pope, which, in the papal church, is as unpardonable 
a crime as to blaspheme the holy name of God ! This 
torture, and many similar ones, are in use at this present 
time. Cardinal Ferretti, the cousin of the present pope, 
used these means more than once when he was Bishop of 
Rieti and Fermo. 

Every possible variety of ingenious cruelty has been 
practised by the Inquisition to torture and agonize its 



The Inquifition. 131 

victims. We are writing of the Inquisition as it exists at 
the present time, and are fully prepared to prove that the 
laws of the institution are unalterable and in no respect 
changed. The advanced state of civilization forbids the 
same open and palpable display of its tyrannous power, 
lest such a revolt would take place as would endanger 
its very existence ; but, while for this reason its severest 
penalties, have in some degree been outwardly restrained, 
yet they remain unalterably in force. ' •.;^ 

Regarding the method of conducting a process, the 
*' Libro Necro" has this astounding page. " With respect 
to the examination, and the duty of examiners either the 
prisoner confesses, and he is proved guilty from his con- 
fession, or he does not confess, and is equally guilty on 
the evidence of the witness. If a prisoner confesses the 
whole guilt of which he is accused, he is unquestionably 
guilty of the whole ; but if he confesses only a part, he 
ought still to be regarded as guilty of the whole ; since 
what he has confessed proves him to be capable of the 
guilt, as to the other points of accusation. And here the 
precept is to be kept in view, ' no one is obliged to con- 
demn himself,' * nemo teneter prodere seipsum.' Never- 
theless, the judge should do all in his power to induce 
the culprit to confess, since confession lends to the glory 
of God. And as the respect due to the glory of God 
requires, that no one particular should be omitted, not 
even a mere attempt ; so the judge is bound to put in 
force, not only the ordinary means which the Inquisition 
affords, but whatever may enter into his thoughts, as fit- 
ting to lead to a confession." 

" Bodily torture has ever been found the most salutary 
and efiicient means of leading to spiritual repentance. 
Therefore, the choice of the most befittmg torture, is 



132 The Inquifition. 

left to the judge of the Inquisition, who determines ac- 
cording to the age, the sex, and the constitution of the 
party. He will be prudent in its use, always being mind- 
ful, at the same time, to procure what is required from it 
— the confession of the delinquent. If, notwithstanding 
all the means employed, the unfortunate wretch still de- 
nies his guilt, he is to be considered as a victim of the 
devil; and as such, deserves no compassion from the 
servants of God, nor the pity or indulgence of holy 
Mother Church : he is a son of perdition. Let him per- 
ish, then, among the damned and let his place be no 
longer among the living." 

In this "black book" of the Inquisition, there is a tran. 
script of proceeding in regard to the increase of crime. 
The crime is permitted to increase, when a victim is 
marked for death. 

For example: a liberal sentiment, a doubt as to the 
infallibility of any dogma or tenet of the church ; would 
be Jesuitically approved by significant smiles or gestures, 
until the party, so encouraged, is by expression or act, 
sufficiently criminal under their system, to be destroyed. 

To establish the guilt of a prisoner, they have various 
modes; and the object in all cases is to mislead the ac- 
cused and prevent his understanding the points, upon 
which he is charged guilty. For example, a person is ac- 
cused of having taken meat on a Friday at the house of 
a certain friend. The informer summons all the family 
of that house for evidence ; but they being accomplices, 
will not depose, against their guest. Then other persons 
will be summoned and inquiries made in regard to this 
family ; and efforts will be made to find out other houses, 
where the accused had eaten ; finally, the circumstantial 
evidence is so far ascertained, that the accused admits it; 



1 



The Inquifition. 133 

while he remains silent, or denies the crime imputed to 
him. But, this is enough — the accused wants no more 
witnesses: judgment is pronounced. So, the Inquisition 
now practices, and whether the crime charged is confessed 
or not, the party is declared guilty, or as they term it, 
reo convinto. 

The Inquisition declares that in matters of religion, it 
is the bounden duty of every one to become an accuser. 
Children are bound to accuse their parents, wives their 
husbands, servants their masters. The decrees of seve- 
ral popes, is, that whoever is acquainted with any 
offence committed against religion, whether from his own 
knowledge or hearsay, is bound within fifteen days, to 
make it known to an inquisitor, or vicar of the Holy 
office ; but, in places where there is no Holy office pre- 
sent, as in the United States, the accusation, must be 
made to the bishop. The crime, whatever, it may be, 
not only attaches to the principal and accomplices, but to 
every one who knows of it and does not reveal it. A 
person belonging to the Church of Rome, who should 
listen to a discourse against any dogma of " Holy Mother 
Church," would be obliged to accuse the speaker, 
himself, and every one who heard him — and whoever 
knows that another has listened to a Protestant is under 
an obligation to denounce that person, to the Inquisi- 
tion. 

The punishment for non-observance of this duty is ex- 
communication, which excludes the party from the bene- 
fit of all the sacraments and shuts him out, from the king- 
dom of heaven. Moreover, besides excommunication, he 
IS liable to be imprisoned in the Inquisition and to suffer 
such other punishment as may be deemed necessary. 



134 The Inquifition. 

Think reader of a wife being obliged to accuse her 
husband, or a mother her child. Every offence which 
comes before the Inquisition is called an " offence against 
the Holy office ;" and to get possession of a secret, every 
natural tie is disregarded and the confidence a man re- 
poses in his wife may lead to his death ! Such is the 
Inquisition, as now practised in Rome — the only differ- 
ence between its present action, as already observed, 
and that of past ages is, that these iniquities are perpe- 
trated with more caution, for the sake of saving the 
Holy See from the censure of the world at large. 

There are many artifices used to induce persons to be- 
tray their friends to this Holy Inquisition ! It is easier 
for a mother to betray her child, than her husband — and 
if a husband could know that his wife meant to open his 
secret thoughts, by which he would be arrested, tortured 
and condemned ; perhaps to die — ^he would never allow 
her to go to the confessional. It is there, that the priest 
induces a woman often to betray her husband, or con- 
trives a plot, to cast suspicion, and thus creates discord 
between them. The Court of Rome foresaw, the diffi- 
culty that might endanger the confessional in regard to 
the wife making an accusation against a husband, and so 
managed that she shall betray her husband, but without 
the least chance of his discovermg her treachery. She 
is therefore instructed by her confessor to go to another 
town, where she is not known and there make her disclos- 
ures ; keeping in secret that she is the Avife of the ac- 
cused, and concealing his real name, till the confessor has 
disclosed the whole affair to the Inquisition, which alone 
knows all the intricacies of the proceedings. And since 
it might happen, that the husband might know that his 



The Inquifition. 135 

wife, under a false pretence, had gone to another place to 
see the inquisitors or the bishop's vicar ; the Inquisition 
grants to other persons the privilege of receiving an ac- 
cusation; making them sub-inquisitors for that single 
case, under the pledge of inviolable secrecy. We have 
at hand the most irrefragible proof, of this, as of every- 
thing, stated, in this work. 

At Ancona, in 1842, two inquisitors had seduced cer- 
tain wives for the purpose of inducing them to accuse 
their husbands ; another inquisitor tried to persuade two 
young ladies to accuse their uncle in order to imprison 
him — the offence was, that the uncle forbade the immoral 
inquisitor from visiting his family. 

This same inquisitor, Salva, sent forth to the world his 
edict against the Jews under his jurisdiction, on the 
24th of June, 1843. This people were ordered to leave 
within the term of three months; to sell, all their possess- 
ions, under penalty of confiscation ; within eight days, to 
abandon all their shops outside the Ghetto, which is en- 
closed by high walls, and is a part of the city in which 
the Jews were confined ; and within three days to dis- 
miss from their houses all their Christian servants, male 
and female, even to their children's nurses. They were 
prohibited to sleep one night out of the Ghetto ; to take 
a single meal, or hold any communication with a Chris- 
tian. These poor Jews were further debarred from buy- 
ing or reading any prohibited book, under a penalty 
of one hundred crowns and an imprisonment of seven 
years ! 

The occasion of this diabolical edict is satisfactorily 
explained, by the following letter from Ancona : 

" The Father Inquisitor Salva, is a person of very licen- 
tious habits, and at the same time very greedy of money. 



136 The Inquiiition. 

He became offended at our women (the Jewesses) be- 
cause they would not listen to his propositions ; he al- 
lured, he threatened, but could never render them sub- 
servient to his desires." 

" At length he took a fresh occasion of offence against 
us, because we refused to pay him a considerable sum of 
money, which he claimed, and not for the first time ; 
saying his predecessors had had such donations, that it 
was for that reason, he had looked upon us favorably, 
and that, if we did not make similar acknowledgement, 
we need not expect any service or consideration from 
him. After due deliberation upon the matter, however, 
it was resolved that we should not give him anything ; 
and now see Avhat has happened ! " 

The personal immoralities of the inquisitors through- 
out the Roman States, are notorious and unquestionable. 
The predecessor of the Holy Inquisitor Salva, it is well 
known, extorted so much money and seduced so many 
women, that he finally had to fly from his position and 
retreat to Tuscany. 

An inquisitor sows discord between man and wife, and 
to suit his purpose, demoralizes the wife, to make her the 
base betrayer of her own husband ! 

Every archbishop who is true to the theology of 
Thomas Aquinas, and faithful to his oath to support the 
canon laws of the Inquisition, would put to death, if he 
could, all heretics everywhere. 

These Romish prelates are sent to the United States, as 
to heathen parts^ in partibus infidelium. They are sworn 
to the pope, to watch every opportunity to aid the Inquisi- 
tion ; which they secretly do. To help this holy work, and 
bring the human mind in complete subjection, is the work 
of all belonging to the monastic orders. In these, neither 



The Inquilition, igy 

the will nor the understanding, can possibly be exercised, 
apart from the superior. Every one so trained, must be- 
lieve that there is no hope or mercy in heaven, but in blind 
obedience to these superiors, be they who they may ; and 
who alone, according to the Romish doctrine, are responsi- 
ble for his acts ! "Was there ever a more consummate 
plan devised to effect the greatest possible evil ? Any 
common mind can perceive in the actual existence of the 
secret Inquisition in our midst, the danger which imperils 
the lives and liberties of this people ! 

Look at the work of the Inquisition in England, on the 
passage of the emancipation bill, in 1829. The Jesuits 
immediately retunied there, and since then, we have 
seen numbers of clergymen of the Church of England, 
go over to the Romish church. Look at the wounds in- 
flicted on Protestantism by the tractarians and Puseyites! 
These Jesuits are here in our midst ; in the best society of 
the land, as teachers of languages and private tutors. 
They are trusted by many respectable fomilies; sit at 
their tables, and converse with their children. It is a 
notorious fact, that these Jesuits are preferred as the 
best teachers, and are more sought after than any others ! 

They are not able to destroy Protestantism in the 
United States, but they excite variance between the 
sects, and then tauntingly declare that the " Protestants 
cannot exist much longer ; they will destroy themselves." 

The principal object of the inquisition is to possess it- 
self of the secrets of every class of society. This is its 
operation in the United States ; and the Jesuits here are 
the right arm of its power. Its agents enter into the 
domestic circle, watch every action, listen to every con- 
versation, and seek, as far as possible, to penetrate the 
hidden thoughts of the whole people. The secret offi- 



138 The Inquifition. 

cials of this Romish police are everywhere. They are 
far more successful than government spies, because with 
them, no door is closed, no curtain drawn, no veil or 
shadow cast over a secret or mystery. What is not 
learned from men, is obtained through women; what the 
father does not reveal, the son will disclose ; and what 
the master may attempt to conceal, the servant will make 
known. The confessional gives the Jesuit a gecret at 
once, that the spy of a government might not ascertain 
in a year, if ever. The confessional is the first and para- 
mount instrument; and besides this, much is learned 
oven through the children in the schools. 

Every morning, at the break of day, twelve reverend 
fathers ascend the steps of the church of Gesu (Jesuits) 
in Rome, as the doors open at day dawn. They are 
dressed in their robes and surplices, and seat themselves 
in the confessional chairs. Then come sei-vants of both 
sexes, old men and women, who are used to stirring 
early, shop-keepers, and working men of aU kinds. They 
come to ^ve an account of their sins, and of other 
people's business, of which they know more than of their 
own. In less than one hour, all the affairs of the city 
are related to these twelve confessors, and are carefully 
registered and discussed at home, as cases of conscience. 
The same is practised in the church of St. Ignasius, St* 
Andrew, and St. Vitate, and all others belonging to the 
company. 

That order is in our midst, and the same means to ob- 
tain a knowledge of our private and domestic history, is 
being as sedulously used here, as in Rome. If you have 
any connection whatever, with those who belong to the 
Roman Catholic church, you are more or less endangered, 
according to the influence you possess, or the position 
you hold in society. 



The Inquifition. 139 

The Roman Catholic churches are open in New York, 
Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, New Or- 
leans, St. Louis, etc., at daybreak every morning to listen 
to the details of the domestic affairs and business inten- 
tions, of the more opulent classes of society, while they 
are asleep ! 

Often facts or conversations begun in one place, are fully 
confirmed in another. The most clever of Rome's police 
visit from house to house, to collect what can be gathered 
of interest in this way. Thus are obtained the most 
minute secrets of society. Then, as at the Caraveta 
in Rome, the church of the Inquisition has its nightly 
oratories, for the elite of the cities in the United States, 
which are a fashionable resort. Besides, there are its 
courses of spiritual exercises, always well attended ; the 
conferences for the scrupulous, where everything of a 
secret nature is drawn from them ; and friendly visitations, 
which are fruitful in supplying information : and this is 
practised all over the land. 

This army of the Pope are courteous and zealous in 
serving their friends ; they ask places for them under the 
government, and, of course, obtain them. 

Without even knowing a family personally, or being 
admitted into their house, these Jesuits are so familiar 
with their history as to know where they reside, what is 
the topic of their conversation, what their intentions, and 
even the names and ages of the parties. In this way the 
church of Rome is supported by the Inquisition, which 
in its turn is sustained by the Jesuits. After ten years' 
experience of a Jesuit in serving the Inquisition and the 
court of Rome ; his occupation as a teacher of American 
youth, is the most important post he can fill to aid the 
apostate church ! 



140 The Inquilition. 

When the pope fled from Rome in 1849, he left the 
inquisition under strict injunctions that every officer 
should remain at his post, and the prisoners in the holy 
office to be kept as closely guarded as before. It was a 
fortnight after the new government under the Roman 
Republic was assumed before this was discovered. The 
government then took possession of all it contained, and 
ordered the holy office to be made the abode for poor 
families ; and its doors, which for three centuries had been 
closed, were for the first time opened to the view of the 
people ! What a scene was there, as the people crowded 
in to behold the prisoners and subterraneous passages 
whJch had held so many victims, who had sealed their 
faith with their blood ! The most tenible oaths and 
imprecations were made against the priests ; and some- 
times the spectators would be intimidated and look be- 
hind, fearing even then some father inquisitor might be 
near to lay hold upon them. 

It was in this building that war was made against the 
printing-press, the censorship was organized, a holy act 
was pronounced treason, and every possible invention of 
cruelty was exerted to enchain the human mind. Here 
were thrown together the monarch and the peasant ; here 
the wife was transformed into the accuser of her husband, 
the son into the betrayer of his father. 

This edifice was erected in the middle of the 16th cen- 
tuiy, and its walls rest upon a prison of Xero. It had 
originally two stories and two galleries, but in the 17th 
century the lower galleries were shut in to make prisons. 
Since then another story has been added, and is at present 
the part in use. 

The officials of the holy office reside in another part of 
the building. A high wall extends across it, to exclude 



The Inquilition. 141 

from human view the horrid crimes and mysteries, which, 
for three centuries, have been practised there. 

The government, in 1849, appropriated that part of 
the inquisition, under the closed gallery of the second 
court, for the stables of the national artillery. The father 
inquisitor, a Dominican, was then residing in.it, but all 
his resistance was in the shape of a protest, which was 
disregarded. A space was opened in the walls to 
make a stable for the horses, and in doing so the work- 
men saw an aperture. They at once removed the rub- 
bish, and descended into a small subterranean place, 
damp and dark as possible, with no passage out, and "vxnth 
no floor, but a black oily earth resembling a cemetery. 
Here and there were scattered various pieces of garments* 
of former fashions, the clothes of the victims who had 
been thrown down from above, and died of wounds, fear, 
or hunger. 

A penny of Pius Yllth was picked up, indicating the 
probable time that this prison was walled up. The men 
then began to explore further, and on removing the soil, 
human bones were uncovered, and in some places very 
long tresses of hair, which had undoubtedly once orna- 
mented female heads. Martyrs of ignorance and super- 
stition who were first decoyed into a cloister, and then 
into such a dungeon! Oh, women! what was your 
alleged crime ? Had you expressed your abhorrence of 
a life of sin with your confessor ? Did you die for your 
integrity ? Who will answer these questions ? Many 
spectators carried away some of this human hair, pieces 
of which are in possession of friends of the author in the 
city of 'New York. 

The " trap-door " mciosed numerous victims, of whom 
it was deemed important to destroy all traces. It is im- 



142 The Inquifition. 

mediately under the judgment hall, the second story of 
the fii-st edifice, and under the vestibule of the " Second 
Father Companion," adjacent to the hall of the tribunal. 

In each of the piisonsare small cells, each capable of hold- 
ing but one person, and these arranged like convent cells, 
being only reached by an extremely narrow corridor. The 
walls of this passage is lined with pictures, to represent the 
horrid character of the institution, and to show no for- 
giveness to heretics. Christ is painted at every step and 
near every door, not as the meek, forgiving Saviour, but 
as threatening vengeance from the cross. All the pas- 
sages of scripture and mottos are but to prove the eternal 
flames are ready for hardened sinners. 

In every cell there is a passage of scripture in large 
letters. " In my prison," says a writer, who obtained his 
liberation on the opening of the Inquisition, in 1849, was 
the 6th verse of the 109th Psalm : ' Set thou a wicked 
man over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand.' In 
another was the 17th verse of the same Psalm : ' As he 
loved cursing, so let it come unto him ; as he delighted 
not in blessing, so let it be far from him.' And in ano- 
ther the 19th verse of the 28th of Deuteronomy : ' Cursed 
shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou 
be when thou goest out.' 

"It still remained for us to visit the ancient torture 
chamber. This is in one of the subterranean dungeons, 
and you descend by a narrow stone staircase. You see 
plainly, in a stone imbedded in the wall, the iron ring in- 
tended to receive the axle of the wheel ; in the middle 
you perceive the square stone on which the beam was 
secured for the torture of the cord. Iron rings attached 
to the vault showed the place for administering other 
tortures. A great chimney in one comer pointed out the 



I 



The Inquilition. 143 

spot for the torture by fire ; but this chamber was now 
only used as a cellar for storing the bottles of the Rev- 
erend Father Inquisitors." 

! Near the cellar the Republican Government had 
broken through a wall, which, although of recent struc- 
ture, had been tinted over with gray earth, to simulate 
age ; though on examination of the stones and cement, 
it was found to be but just completed! This aperture 
conducted to a hall, in which were two large ovens, of 
considerable height, tilled with calcined human bones. 
When the inquisition could no longer burn its victims 
publicly^ it burned them priiyatdy in its own furnaces ! 

"It was about sunset, on the 27th of March, 1849, 1 was 
apprised," says a distinguished prisoner, " that something 
extraordinary was taking place ; and as I expected it 
would prove to be something dreadful, I fell on my 
knees, betook myself to prayer, and commended my soul 
to God. While thus employed my door was violently 
opened. The first person who entered was a man of 
short stature, who, with great impetuosity, threw him- 
self on my neck, embracing, kissing, and bathing me with 
the tears, which all the time fell from beneath his green 
spectacles. This was the Minister Sterbini, the author 
of the decree which abolished the holy office, and those 
who followed him, having embraced me in their turn, he 
left two of them with me, saying, * You are free ! — I 
must go and liberate others ! » 

" I found myself laboring under extreme weakness of 
the limbs, the effect of my long confinement. It was with 
great difficulty that I could walk a few steps. The two, 
therefore, supported me in their arms, and conducted me 
in triumph to the midst of a crowd assembled in the 
court-yard, who, as soon as they saw me, began to shout 



144 T^^ Inquifition. 

for joy and clap their hands, exclaiming, ' Liberty of 
conscience for ever ! ' I was now taken to an apartment 
with the other liberated prisoners, where the kind- 
hearted Roman people, so different from their priests, 
were eagerly providing broth, wine, and cordials, to re- 
cruit our feeble powers. Meanwhile fresh arrivals from 
the prisons continually took place, till we reached the 
number of about thirty, on which Sterbini, now quite 
worn out with exertion, asked each one, separately, 
where he would like to be conducted. I replied, ' That 
for my part, being a foreigner, I had no settled home, 
but that if he would be kind enough to send me to the 
parish priest of the Magdalene, he would be benevolent 
enough to receive me.' ' The priest of the Magdelene, 
for whom you inquire,' replied Sterbini, 'knew what 
the priests were before we did. He quitted Rome a long 
time ago, and with Rome he also abandoned the Romish 
religion.' 

There, where the French government put the correc- 
tional prisoners, the monks and friars had prisons in the 
holy office. These cells had beds, but the greatest filth 
imaginable prevailed everywhere. Old chairs, worn-out 
cushions, coverlets, tables, old clothes of prisoners who 
had died in the cells years ago. 

" In a certain very small cell were things which indicated 
horrible secrets : a piece of a woman's handkerchief, oi 
large size, and an old bonnet of a girl about ten years 
old. Poor little child ! What offence, perhaps unknown 
to you, could it have been, which threw you into this 
place and destroyed the innocent peace of your infantile 
years ; which taught you to weep in the season of smiles, 
and thus deprived you of your dear and early life ? In 
another cell were found your sandals, and several nuns' 



The Inquifition. 14^ 

cords, a little spindle, caskets containing needles, cruci- 
fixes, and unfinished stockings, with the knitting-needles 
still well pointed, etc. 

"And so, in almost every one of the prison-rooms were 
to be seen clothes, ornaments, and other relics of their 
former occupants ; and, as every thing was Avrapt in deep 
and mournful mystery, the imaginations of the people 
recalled ancient tragical stories, and they wept over the 
misfortunes of persons of whose names they were igno- 
rant. 

"The walls of all the cells were coveredwith inscriptions, 
some of which expressed despairing grief, but most of 
them resignation, even in that abode,and under the suffer- 
ings inflicted there, so well fitted to becloud the mind, to 
terrify the boldest heart, and to bend the most iron-will. 

"Under the two courts, subterranean apartments 
abounded, communicating with each other. A few only 
were solitary ; and to those there was only one way of ac- 
cess,viz., a trap-door, which denoted death! Some of them 
were prisons at first, and afterwards converted into store- 
rooms. To their ceilings were still fastened iron rings, 
which formerly served to give to the Question^ (torture !) 
and afterwards to suspend provisions. In one cell on 
the ground-floor, in the second building, a square piece 
of marble was observed in the floor, which looked like 
the cover of a hole. It was raised, and beneath was a 
vault, which proved to be a Yade in pace, (go in peace 
— that is, a place of silent death.) Not a ray of light 
ever could have entered, except when that funereal mar- 
ble was lifted for a moment, and then it soon again fell, 
over the head of the condemned person, who was left to 
die of hunger, in the cold and darkness, and amidst a 
stillness unbroken unless by his own cries or prayers. 
7 



146 The Inquifition. 

"A portion of those subterraneous apartments were 
closed in the present century, or near the close of the 
last, as was plainly discovered by a careful examination 
of the walls, that had shut them in, which had been arti- 
ficially colored with a grayish hue, to make them look old. 
This artifice was accidentally discovered. 

"The rubbish having been removed in one place, indica- 
tions of a stone staircase were observed, which was 
cleared, and persons went down thirty steps. At the 
bottom was found a small chamber, filled up with a mix- 
ture of earth and lime, and which proved to be but the 
first of many others like it. The prisons of Pope Pius 
V. were now at last discovered. Along the walls were 
recesses, hollowed out, so formed and arranged as to 
bring to mind the ancient Columbari, or dovecotes. 
There, it appeared, from what was observed, the con- 
demned were buried alive, being immersed in a kind of 
mortar up to their shoulders. In some instances it was 
evident, they had died slowly and of hunger. This was 
inferred from the position of the bodies, and marks 
were seen in the earth of movements made, in the con- 
vulsive agonies of the last moments, to free themselves 
from the tenacious mortar, Avhile it was closing round 
their limbs. The bodies were very numerous, and were 
placed in lines, opposite each other. The skulls were all 
gone ; but these were afterwards found in another place.* 

" Of those \ictims of religious fury we know nothing. 

^ The French legation in Rome -was pleased to circulate the report, 
that the goyernment of the Republic had had the bodies transported 
thither, to defame the Inquisition and the government of the priests. 
That report does not greatly honor the ingenuity of the French lega- 
tion, for the bodies form large deposits, in layers, which are under 
•walls then built over them. 



The Inquilition. 147 

" The rest of the edifice has nothing remarkable. The 
hall of the dreaded tribunal, over which presided the 
Dominican Commissary of the Holy Inquisition, was in 
the interior of the first fabric. This was very simple, 
having a colossal figure of Pius V. at the end. 

"Above the seat of the Father Inquisitor was a crucifix, 
with the image of the church beneath it, trampling upon 
heresy ; and near by was the terrible Dominican Gus- 
man. On the sides opened two doors. That on the 
right led into the room of the first Father Companion, 
and that on the left to the room of the second Father 
Companion. These two magistrates of ancient times 
assisted the High Procurator of the Inquisition, in dis- 
covering oifences, and in converting the condemned of- 
fenders ; to which latter ofiice they devoted themselves 
in the following manner. When a trial was finished, and 
it was important to the Holy Office, to dispose of a con- 
demned person without giving a public spectacle, he 
came in, conducted by the first Father Companion, who 
exhorted him to repent, to consign every thing to the 
hands of divine compassion, which punished him on 
earth to glorify, and purify him in heaven ; he pressed 
him with insidious interrogations, in order to discover 
more of his ofiences, and to find traces of other offenders ; 
and, finally, blessing him, if he confessed and was con- 
trite, he pretended to send him to the second Father 
Companion. The guard, who awaited him on the occa- 
sion, well knowing the arrangements, conducted him 
towards the apartment on the other side, opened the 
door, and stopped short without passing it^ As soon as 
the miserable prisoner touched the spot near the thres- 
hold, the floor gave way, and he fell through the trap- 
door into his tomb. 



148 The Inquifition. 

"These words are still written over that door: '' Cham- 
ber of the second Father Compaiiion.'' 

"This edifice is almost entirely the work of the Pontiff 
Ghislieri, called by the court of Rome ' Pius V.', and 
by Italy, (covered with blushes,) 'Brother Michael of 
the Inquisition' — ('Fra Michele dell' Inquisizione.' 
Rome knows him, and so do Calabria, Tuscany, Venice, 
Spain, and Flanders. We will briefly trace this character 
in another place : for the Catholic world remembers the 
blood which the canonization of Pius V. cost, and on 
what foundation the papal throne is erected. This 
' Samt,^ is the author of the bull (entitled ' Siqyra (/re- 
gem doniinicuni^'') which forbids a physician to visit a 
patient a third time, unless he has confessed, and has a 
certificate of the fact. 

"We have hitherto examined the parts of the buildings 
devoted to trials and tortures, following the astonished 
and indignant multitude ; but another part remains to be 
visited, of a less terrible aspect, although yet formidable 
enough. I speak of the Archives, which contain the 
3farti/rology of the Simian JRace, and the revelation of 
the barbarous jurisprudence of the Inquisition. 

" The Inquisition was founded in 1204, by Innocent HI., 
to combat the Albigenses, to devastate one of the most 
flourishing provinces of Europe, and to butcher more 
than half a million of men. It is nothing else than a 
conspiracy estahlished into a system, against the moral 
and intellectual development of mankind. With such 
an institution the Popes so managed, that Christianity 
and Mahomedanism went hand in hand in murder, as 
the Caliphs and the Popes wished to persuade the world 
to be converted by the same logic — fire and sword. The 
Mussulman said : ' Believe or I will cut off your head.' 



The Inquilition. 140 

The Roman Court has always said : ' Believe, or I will 
burn you !' The difference is not great. 

" The supreme tribunal, composed of cardinals, and pre- 
sided over by the Pope, resided, and still resides, at the 
Minerva, where it has always met once a week, to judge, 
in the last instance, the important cases drawn up in the 
Holy Office by the Father Inquisitor, the acting captain 
of the Catholic Inquisition. The Assessor of this belongs 
to the high prelacy. The informers and agents, primates, 
priests, monks and laymen, indifferently, had, and have 
the name of Assistants ; and they exist now. We have, 
among our notes, the names of many, which we may, 
when we please, give up to the just animadversion of 
the world. Certain of those assistants were honorary : 
others received pay ; and whether honorary or paid the 
body was strong, especially in late years, as it turned 
out in Spain : for the honorary ones enjoyed many privi- 
leges. Among the honorary were numbered, and still 
are numbered several princes of Rome, of the ecclesias- 
tical state, and a number of French legitimists. Such 
officials of the army of the Inquisition, therefore, were 
taken from the bosom of Sanfedism. The Familiars are 
only the executioners, the gensdarmes, of the Holy Office. 

*' The Inquisition tries heresy, suspicion of heresy, pro- 
tection given to heresy, every kind of evil doing, sacri- 
lege and enchantment, blasphemy, both heretical and 
non-heretical, insults offered to the Inquisition, whether 
by resisting its orders, offending its members or officers, 
either in person, or character, or property, or in any 
thing whatever belonging to them. The jurisdiction of 
the Inquisition extends over Jews, Mahomedans, and all 
infidels, of whatever kind, comprehending all who teach 
anything contrary to the sentiments of the Court of 



150 The Inquilidon. 

Rome^ concerning the Sovereign and unlimited power ot 
the Popes, their superiority in councils, even general 
councils, and the divme arbitrament which they may 
exercise over the acts of governments and princes of all 
countries. Aside from all this, it is sufficient to fall 
under the jurisdiction of the Holy Office, that one refrains 
from confessing for a year, eats meats on prohibited days, 
or breaks any one of the precepts of the Church. The 
words guilty and accused are synonymous in the diction- 
ary of the Inquisition, because the Church cannot be 
mistaken : therefore, whoever is accused must be guilty. 
And it is not only not permitted to save any person who 
falls under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition : but he 
must be accused, even though a father or a brother. 

" The Inquisition has supreme power over all particular 
Inquisitions y and, because the Inquisitions of the various 
provinces are independent of each other, it terminates 
the differences which may arise between them. It regu- 
lates the procedure, prescribes the forms of trials at will, 
and they make it the judge of all graver religious and 
political business which relates to the Roman Court and 
the Papacy. Although the Inquisition is abolished in 
France, Spain, Germany, at Milan, Venice, and in Eng- 
land, the primitive ordinance arrangement has not been 
broken on this account^ but they are supplied icith secret 
Iiquisitors andwith periodical information by the agents, 
Jesuits, Sanfedists, friars and priests of all kinds, bishops 
and nuncios. This, to the Church of Rome, is the Mir- 
ror of the World, the true Council, the grand supporter, 
the universal police. In the states of the Pope, is the 
Censorship of Books. This seasons the food of the 
intellect, for the whole Catholic world, by means of The 
Index. 



The Inquilition. Ij*! 

" The Inquisition, like the Papacy, is unchangeable. 
The Inquisition, which remains still the undegenerate 
daughter of Saint Dominic, who merited Paradise and 
the honor of altars, by shedding the blood of the Albi- 
genses, has not changed its objects nor its sentence^ hut 
only its means. It has wanted, for a century, the omnip- 
otence of the physical arm: yet it still condemns, 
though it dissimulates, and conceals its sentence, not, 
being able to kindle fires for victims, which it calls " Acts 
of faith," (Auto da fe.) It is not now able to conduct 
Catholics, at its will, to " a good death," except in the 
Roman States, where it is again in power, thanks to the 
Austi-ian, French and Spanish arms ! However, it yet 
dares not immolate in public a human victim to Jesus 
Christ, but remains free, even now, to use the ban, the 
dwigeon, fetters and secret torture. 

"We have mentioned these facts, because they assist in 
comprehending the importance of the Archives of the 
Holy Office. These are the registers of all the trials and 
sufferings incurred by men of intellect, for efforts made 
against every kind of tyranny, established in the name 
of men, or in the name of God : the history of that con- 
test which has been carried on for three centuries. We 
believe that the documents anterior to the sixteenth 
century exist somewhere else. The archives existing are 
very extensive indeed, and every page contains some 
malediction against freedom of thought, or a record of 
sufferings and tortures. Every one is impregnated with 
tears or blood. 

" They are divided into three parts. 

" The first consists of the Library : the most precious 
and unique of its kind. This contains all works relating 
to the Inquisition, written in the Catholic spirit ; with the 



152 The Inquilition. 

jurisprudence and apologies for the Holy Office, published 
in every part of Europe. It is thus a complete collection 
of works presented and registered in the Index : that is, 
the documents relating to all the crimes committed by 
Catholic intolerance against the highest displays of the 
human intellect. There is seen a collection of the origi- 
nal editions of all works written by Italian reformers, 
the greater part of whom died either in exile, in prison, 
under torture, or in the flames. Xumbers of those 
works are unknown to bibliopolists themselves, even the 
most diligent and the most devoted collectors of rare 
books ; and are the only, or almost the only copies in 
existence of some of the works. We need but reflect 
upon the history of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, 
to have an idea of this insatiable bitterness with which 
the Inquisition not only hunted and tortured the authors, 
but devoted itself to destroying the books, even to buy- 
ing up whole editions and committing them to the 
flames, at the same time notifying every person possess- 
ing a copy to resign it immediately. The typographic 
art, although in a flourishing state in the former half of 
the sixteenth century, must have been nearly destroyed 
by the laws of Paul lY. and Pius V. and the Council of 
Trent. Consequently, in the second half of that century 
the great printing-offices disappeared, and the printers 
either failed or ceased their labors and went into exile. 
The Giunti of Florence were reduced to printing brevi- 
aries. The art remained nowhere unless at Venice, where 
the learned Monsignor della Casa published the first 
Index, after the cruel Orfano had received many victims, 
at the command of the Father Inquisitor, the Venetian 
Signori having chosen to substitute water for fire against 
the remains of the Italian spirit. 






The Inquilitlon. 153 

" In that library abound the codices and manuscripts 
collected by the officers of the Censorship. "When an 
author presents a work, to obtain permission to print it, 
it is the custom of the Holy Congregation of the Index, 
if it thinks it proper to deny the permission, to retain the 
manuscript, that it may not be published in other coun- 
tries. We remember to have observed a geography of 
the Roman States, by a certain Cavalier Fontana, a work 
which did not touch on any point of religion : but as it 
revealed by statistical data, things not proving the infalli- 
ble goodness of the government, it was sequestered. 

" This is a library of heresy and the more admirable, 
because it comprehends the great enterprizes of intelli- 
gence, the greatest combats for the truth, the most holy 
aspirations ; and, as a thinking mind could not act with- 
out falling into heresy, it is the library of liberty^ hidden 
and sealed with every kind of anathema and with blood. 

" The first section contains the strongest exhibitions of 
the efforts of the intellect, panting to break the impedi- 
ments which prevent the improvement of human nature; 
the second registers the penalties imposed upon its cham- 
pions, and narrates the martyrdom of many a modern Pro- 
metheus. There stand, in beautiful order, the processes 
proposed and carried through by Ghislieri, as Inquisitor 
and as Pope — as 'Brother Michele' and as 'Pius Y.' 
who said that clemency consisted in punishing heretics 
with the greatest severity, and instituted the custom of 
blessing medals, by washing them in Flemish blood. 
The inexorable disciple of Paul IV., adopted the dog- 
matical decrees of the Synod of Trent, to give activity 
to the Inquisition ; and the disciplinary decrees, to 
supercede and absorb the jurisdiction of every lay 
government. Then, as now, the fear of punishment 



154 '^^^ Inquifition. 

proved the best of remedies : torture, not the word of 
Christ, was the Roman Gospel. The princes seconded 
the iron-will of Ghislieri, both for a show of religion, for 
the fear of ecclesiastical intrigues, and from dread of the 
event in Germany and France. Brother Michael, it is 
true, was received by the Couraschi with a volley of 
stones, and the Venetian Signori drove him out of Ber- 
gamo, but, nevertheless, he knew how to substitute in 
Venice, the canal of Orfano for faggots to accomplish the 
death of Giuglio Ghirlanda, Antonio Ricetto, Francesco 
Sega, the priest Spinola, and the friar Lupetino. He pro- 
cured the hunting out of the Protestants of Locarno : a 
work due in a great measure to the small cantons by 
which the flourishing town of Locarno lost her com- 
merce. Ghislieri destroyed the reformed church of Luc- 
ca, co-operated in the slaughter of the poor Waldenses 
in Calabria, burned Giuglio Zanetti, Aenio Paleario and 
Pietro Carnesecchi. The last named would never bow 
his head, but went gravely and serenely to the stake, as 
if to victory, with the Sanbenito* on his neck. These 
tragedies terrified the whole peninsula. A person accused 
of heresy died under the torture in Faenza ; and the city 
rose in insurrection, assaulted the houses of the Inquisi- 
tion, and killed a priest they found there. 

" There were tumults in Mantua, Tuscany and Xaples. 
The Index of Caraffa was put into vigorous execution ; 
all the books issuing from certain offices which were held 
in fear were prohibited, to whatever subject they related ; 
the inquisitors and their agents, like dogs long tied up, 
sprang into the printing-offices and bookstores, carrying 
away books without paying for them, and ruining the 
arts and trade. They foolishly wished to destroy think- 
ing. There were fugitives from Sienna, Lucca, Pisa, 
* Habit of Infamy. 



The Inquifition. 155 

Florence and all parts. The Italians carried their in- 
dustry and wealth to France, Germany and Switzerland. 
Rome seemed like a great desert. The study halls of 
Pisa were empty ; several students were imprisoned on 
suspicion ; and their companions soon abandoned the in- 
hospitable country. Many persons lost their senses from 
fear ; five Siennese women were given over to the devil 
as mad ; and, instead of the hospital, they were put into 
the flames ! 

" We mention these facts summarily, that the terrible 
importance of the trials of Pius V., may be understood 
(which are included in many of the documents of the 
reign of Paul IV.), and many of those relating to the 
war in Flanders and the slaughter of the Huguenots. 
Death prevented GhisUeri from publicly pronouncing his 
blessing on the festival of St. Bartholomew. 

"The second section (of the library of the Inquisition) 
contains summary records of all the trials which have 
been held and decided by the supreme tribunal of the 
Minerva ; all the resolutions by the Holy Office of cases 
of conscience, and all the objects taken from prisoners 
and delinquents : such as letters, books, manuscripts, 
pictures, ornaments, amulets, &c., a curious and very 
strange collection. 

"The third part (of the library), formed under the 
chancelry, is the most important in our times, and reveals 
the vast organization of the Inquisition, and what kind 
of life, and how much life it still possesses. Here, more 
than anywhere else, politics and religion take each other 
by the hand, and are confounded in one ; here is per- 
ceived the usefulness of cooifession and of the concentra- 
ted absolutism in the church ; here politics control reli- 
gious heresy, and the assiduous care of the priest is seen, 



156 The Inquifition. 

who wishes to maintain himself as a j^rince ; here are aJl 
the trials, all the revelations, all the design, all the secret 
intrigue of modern times. 

" The Roman Church, after the German Reformation, 
endeavored to purify ecclesiastical practices : and if they 
did not succeed in this, it was owing to the essential de- 
fects of the internal constitution. To this department of 
the Inquisition belongs the ' Summary of solicitations^^ 
a record, of women who had been solicited to criminality 
by their own confessors in the pontifical state ; and the 
summary is not brief. 

"Although several book -cases w^ere found empty, 
enough remained to allow us to comprehend the modern 
secret organization of the Holy office, and to discover the 
names of the officers and lamDiars of the tribunal. The 
names of these are in a register, province hy province. 
Generally speaking all the prelates in mission, all the pro- 
vincials and generals of the regular clergy, all the 
bishops, archbishops, and cardinals, not only of the pon- 
tifical state, but of Christendom, all Sanfedists and exag- 
gerated catholics, notable for rank and ambition, or 
genius and wealth, or for influence on jDublic opinion and 
governments. Then the Repertories of Correspondence are 
numerous and exceedingly large. There is a Repertory 
of the correspondence of bishops, cardinals, and prelates, 
belonging to the pontifical state, which gives to the in- 
quisitors information on religion, as well as politics ; also 
that of the bishops, cardinals, prelates, priests, and friars 
of the catholic xcorld ; and that of the Apostolic Nuncios. 
From those documentary letters elaborate notes had been 
compiled and placed in orderly arrangement, forming the 
' Catalogus Indicationum^^ which • contains the names of 
all political and religious heretics from 1815 till 1847, 



The Inquilition. 157 

tracing their moral portraits, recording their writings 
and actions, and treating of their sects, societies, orna- 
ments, ramifications, agents, and friends. 

"Such is the immense family of the Inquisition : touch- 
ing every place, having its eye upon everything, from the 
confessional of the humble female, to the palace of great 
men and the royal residence of princes, it examines 
everything, studies and records everything. Liberty, in 
its estimation, is not only heresy, but reason itself is a 
kind of heresy; therefore the world is heretical, and 
therefore the Inquisition believes it to be its duty to ob- 
serve everything, to comprehend, in its secret jurisdic- 
tion, the actions and thoughts of all men, and secretly 
utters its anathemas even against the governments which 
have lent them a musket. To it nothing is sacred, 
nothing respected : neither the sanctity of the domestic 
hearth, nor the religion of the oath sworn to govern- 
ments, nor the silence of the confessional. All is scan- 
dalous treachery in those correspondences. There I 
found letters from Piedmontese bishops, who openly rea- 
soned about rebelling against the government of Charles 
Albert, because he did not hold to the maxims of Count 
Solaro della Margherita. Elsewhere they lay before your 
eyes the relations made to a confessor, which bear on 
their face the violated words : ' Under secresy^ which 
answer in the diplomatic vocabulary, to '■Confidential.'' 
Numbers of those relations came from abroad, and were 
collected by Nuncios. The timorous consciences of Catho- 
lics may be encouraged, for the sacrament of confession 
is good, and really something. And if the governments, 
if the multitudes knew to what offices the ambassadors 
of the court of Rome lend themselves, they would soon 
renew the English law. Any one who can write, might 



158 The Inquifition. 

cover with infamy, by a single line, many illustrious men 
of France, Switzerland and Germany. Let ns not do it, 
although we have the documents in our hands ; let us 
not do it now from the vain stimulus of vengeance : but, 
if ever necessary to the cause of the people, it may then 
be done. 

" This, then, is the true whispering gallery, of the police. 
It is the seat of the Cardinal Secretary of State, and the 
repertory of his letters ; to him recurrence is had for 
information concerning all persons ; for hints about men 
and things, or books to be allowed to be introduced into 
the state, etc., etc. 

"The government of the Republic, being at war in de- 
fence of the national honor and the standard of the peo- 
ple, was not able to take possession of those documents ; 
but an examination was allowed to a few persons. The 
Inquisition recovered the archives untouched, and now is 
revenging itself. But we have more solemn and obvious 
documents to prove the iniquity of the priest's govern- 
ment, in the disdain and the misery of the Roman people, 
in the hatred of all Italy, in the Gospel which they have 
torn in pieces, in the offended conscience of the human 
race."* 

But men of all nations visited "v^-ith the same exclama- 
tion of horror ! Many Americans were there and saw it 
and wrote their impressions, which have not been given 
to the world. The most cultivated Italians who fled to 
the United States allude to this opening of the Inqui- 
sition as surpassing all sights ever imagined of popish 

This description is translated from F. De Bonne's "L'ltalia del Po- 
polo," who was an eye-witness of what he describes. 



The Inquifition. 159 

tyranny. "The people roared with madness," said a 
priest when describing the popular outburst on entering 
the Inquisition. " The Roman women," said another 
Italian, " have heretofore been strong advocates for the 
priests ; but they are no longer their partizans — they 
have seen the Inquisition." A foreign gentleman, like 
many other visitors, took notes while examining the In- 
quisition, in order to acquaint incredulous Americans of 
the real nature and practices of popery, adding, " that 
should he publish them and return to Italy, he should ex- 
pect to be incarcerated in the same dungeons and by the 
same old jailers, who have been restored by French Re- 
publican arms." 

The mysterious disappearance of certain persons was 
soon explained on beholding the numerous remains of 
human bodies in the cells of the Inquisition ! Such mys- 
teries have excited suspicion in the United States, as 
well as on the other side of the Atlantic. The intimate 
cooperation existing here by political diplomatists and the 
agents of the Inquisition, as proved by the documents in 
the Holy office, may remind the reader of persons from 
our midst who have been summoned by the pope to Rome, 
and were never afterwards seen or their destination known. 
Such was the case, of Bishop Reze, of Detroit, a Roman 
Catholic and an American citizen by birth. Pie was 
ordered to Rome for some offence against religion, and 
since that time not a word has been heard of him. He 
is doubtless in the Inquisition or has suffered a death- 
penalty at its hands. 

This subject is of the utmost importance to Americans, 
and the revelations given to them, should at once arouse 
them to action and induce them to legislate out of the 
country all convents and all similar institutions, which are 
secluded from the public eye. 



l6o The Inquifition. 

This Inquisition, which now flourishes, with the pope of 
Rome at its head, has never ceased to be potential, ex- 
cept during the five months, in 1849, when the pope was 
deprived of his temporal power. 

Twenty-jive thousand persons^ the tenth of the active 
population and the hundreth part of the whole, were 
either exiles or in the pope's dungeons, when Pius IX. 
ascended the papal throne in 1846. 

It was difficult to find a family who had not some 
member in prison or exile. When it was supposed that 
Pius IX. would not cooperate with the Jesuits ; as his 
predecessor had done, it was apprehended the Jesuits 
would poison him. The Romans at that time, believing 
the new pope a different man, from what he proved him- 
self to be, would often shout, " Holy Father, beware 
what you eat ! don't trust the Jesuits ! " The centuroni, 
a band of robbers and vagabonds, who were organized 
as a secret society, headed by " Priests and Monks, in 
1831, held the cardinal doctrine to kill a liberal, is the 
surest passport to heaven. 

When the Dominican friars had to flee from their con- 
vent in 1849, they left in their hurry a document of great 
value, which disclosed their practices. It was a volume 
of autograph letters from various 25relates and bishops, 
and common priests, addressed to the president of the 
Inquisition. The president is none otherthan the pope, who 
has the business transacted by the inquisitor general, who 
is a Dominican, In these letters it was found that almost 
every writer had violated the secrets of the confessional — 
secrets which they declared so inviolable that, one of their 
authors says, that " God himself never knoics what you 
say to your coiifessor ! '''' In all these letters, it is proper 
to remark, that the secrets revealed related to political 



The Inquifition. l6l 

state affairs, no matter in what country. Many of these 
letters were written by Irish and English Prelates, and 
clearly expose (what was well known before) that the 
confessional is nothing but an engine of the police. 

These letters would have been published at that time, 
but no one anticipated the Pope would ever return. 
Now, the volume is concealed in Rome, with others of a 
similar character, and never can be had, until the papacy 
is destroyed. The letters, however, were seen by gen- 
tlemen of undoubted veracity, such as Sterbini, Marelli, 
Montecchi, and many others, who were exiled on the 
Pope's return, and resided in England or France, in 
1851. 

Antonelli, who is now the all-powerful minister and 
only influential counsellor of the pope, was, years ago, 
as prelate and governor of the province of Viterbo, sold 
to the Jesuits, soul and body. This debased wretch 
while there, obtained through an informer, the names of 
the principal young men of the town, who were accused 
of conspiracy. Antonelli had no proof whatever of their 
guilt, but he summoned the parents of each separately, 
and showed them a mock pardon, as coming from Rome, 
on condition that their sons should confess the crime and 
urged them to induce this, that he might show his mercy 
and forgiveness. The unfortunate young men, believing 
him, did confess to a crime of which they were ignorant ! 
And the next night the whole forty-seven were arrested 
and thrown into the State dungeons. — Nlcolini. 

When this premier of the pope was at Marcerata as 
Delegato, he committed adultery and sent an assassin to 
take the life of the unyielding husband. This scandal 
caused his return to the court of Rome, and to punish 
him they made him treasurer, a situation which gives 



l62 The Inquifition. 

absolute right to a Cardinal's hat. It may be remarked 
here, that this is not unprecedented in the Roman 
Catholic church. 

When the immoralities of a priest excite too much 
scandal, he is sent to another field of enlarged operations- 
This is the case in England, and in the United States of 
America, where the clergy are subject to the civil laws. 
But in Italy, where the priest is superior to all law, noth- 
ing can exceed their iniquities. In the small town of 
Senigallia, for example, with a population of but six 
thousand inhabitants, it has two hundred and fifty priests, 
beside two hundred monks and friars! 

Rt. Hon. M. Gladstone, in two letters addressed to 
the Earl of Aberdeen, thus describes the chains of the 
persecuted in the Inquisition, under the Neopolitan Gov- 
ernment. 

"Each man wears a strong leather girt round him 
above the hips. To this are secured the upper ends of 
two chains. One chain of four long and heavy links de- 
scends to a kind of double ring fixed round the ankle. 
The second chain consists of eight links, each of the same 
weight and length with the four, and this unites the two 
prisoners together, so that they" can stand about six feet 
apart. Neither of these chains is ever undone day or 
night. The dress of common felons, which, as well as 
the felon's cap, was there worn by the late Cabinet- 
Minister of King Ferdinand, of I^aples, is composed of a 
rough and coarse red jacket, with trowsers of the same 
material. On his head he had a small cap, which makes 
up the suit ; it is of the same material. 

" The weight of their chains, I understand, is about 
eight rotoli, or between sixteen or seventeen pounds 
for the shorter one, which must be doubled when 






The Inquifition. 163 

we give each prisoner his halt of the longer one. The 
prisoners had a heavy limping movement, much as if one 
leg had been shorter than the other. But the refinement 
of suffering in this case arises from the circumstance that 
here we have men of education and high feeling chained 
incessantly together. For no purpose are these chains 
undone — and the meaning of these last words must be 
well considered — they are to be taken strictly." 

It is common in Naples to arrest any person who may 
displease the police by a band of ruflSans who are masters 
of life and property. One will go and denounce a man 
as a conspirator, to any of the tribunals; others will 
assume the secular dress and appear against him in evi- 
dence ; others will assume the judges' robes, and sen- 
tence the poor victim to death or the dungeons. He has 
no redress, for the man who would dare to defend his 
innocence must join him in the dungeon. No newspaper 
dare make a single comment of pity ! This Ferdinand 
is the king whom Pius IX. holds up as a model for the 
imitation of all Europe ! 

In Rome it is still worse, for there are really three 
tyrannies, actively potential. It is, and has always been 
the practice of the sbirriy who are pardoned assassins, to 
prowl the streets, enter houses, with or without pretext, 
and drag the innocent and unsuspecting to prison. The 
French soldiers, in 1849, lent their protection to this mur- 
derous band, who went to arrest the mothers and sisters, 
whose crime was, strewing flowers upon the grave of their 
sons and brothers who died fighting for the republic. 
Ten thousand captives, taken by the sbirri and French 
gend'armes, now fill the Roman prisons. In the dungeons 
of the Inquisition are numbers under sentence of death, 
many who since 1849 have never seen a friendly face, and 



164 The Inquifition. 

do not know yet the crime for which they are im- 
prisoned ! 

While thus heartlessly exulting over 15,000 captive 
subjects condemned, the pope boasts to the world of 
his paternal heart, and the unbounded love he has for his 
children ! 

Throughout Italy, we see the same tyrannical spirit. 
In Lombardy, women, aye ladies, have been publicly 
disgraced by flagellation ; and this has been done to 
women, by Romish priests, more than once in these 
United States.* 

In Lombardy, General Haynau's successor has imposed 
the Spanish Inquisition. He requires his agents and in- 
spectors to give him an accurate account of what the sus- 
pected party thinks, nay, of what the informer supposes 
he would think in such and such given circumstances. 
This horrible atrocity would excite a smile, but for its 
awful reality. 
Unbelievers and atheists, so long as as they are obe- 

* Horsewhipping bj the priests is quite an institution in Ireland, 
where women make no resistance and crouch like spaniels. We 
sometimes find similar chastisement practised by the popish priests in 
the United States. Joanna Conner was recently whipped unmercifully 
by a Eoman CathoHc priest, in Delaware co., Pa. Her crime was in 
marrying a Protestant, which constitutes a heinous oflfence 10 the 
churcli, even in this iree covmtry. The whip used on this occasion was 
made of twisted wire— one said to be used by him to punish refractory 
Catholics. He made the woman kneel, and whipped her with this hor- 
rid instrument of torture. She ran to the piazza, screaming; he 
brought her back, and again made her kneel, and lashed her ; then di- 
rected her to bathe in salt and water ! These facts have been duly 
attested, under oath. She stated in her affidavit that this priest had 
whipped other women in the place, and that it was his custom to 
chastise in this manner men, women, and children, who displeased him I 



The Inquilition. 165 

dient to the Pope, and outwardly reverential towards the 
church, are favorites rather than otherwise ; and nothing 
stands between them and a cardinal's hat ! " Had I," 
says Dr. Achilli, " believed nothing at all, I should have 
given offence to no one ; if I had even adopted the lan- 
guage of Voltaire, I should have merely raised a laugh ; 
but in speaking the language of the Bible, I attacked the 
priesthood, and incurred its hatred and persecution." 
For heretics (Protestants), Rome has an Inquisition 
always ready. On hearing that this horrible tribunal 
had laid hold of him, the monks of Naples began to 
chant their hymn of victory, " He who made war on us, 
is fallen ; he who branded us with dishonor, is fallen to 
rise no more : the Inquisition will root out from the 
earth, the very memory of his name." " We ought to 
burn this heretic alive," said the Ancaiene, the general 
of the office. 

Twice was this distinguished "heretic" incarcerated in 
the Inquisition in Rome. In 1849, during the few 
months in which the republic existed. Dr. Achilli devoted 
himself to the dissemination of the Word of God ; and 
it was for this, that he was seized while Rome was in the 
hands of the French soldiery, and dragged to a dark, 
humid cell of the Inquisition. By superhuman power, he 
made his escape after six months, and fled to London, 
where he was persecuted by the Jesuits, in their usual 
way ; especially towards one who had held Such elevated 
positions in the church, and might have, in time, been 
Pope himself, being in the regular line of promotion to a 
cardinalate. From London, where he demanded a trial, 
and obtained a glorious vindication from his renowned 
reviler. Cardinal Wiseman, he came to the United 
States; and here the Jesuits pursued him, insinuating 



l66 The Inquifition. 

and influencing Protestants to disbelieve his statements, 
etc. This is precisely their course of action in all similar 
cases, which this Yolume records. But wherever his 
book is read, the reader must rise from its perusal, sat- 
isfied that no man would have done and suffered for the 
cause of the Saviour, what he has endured, unless sus- 
tained by the Christian's faith. He sacrificed himself, 
rejecting preferments in the Roman Catholic Church, for 
freedom to worship God.* 

" When the Inquisitors determined to seize a victim, 
they send their officers commonly at midnight, in a coach. 
They knock at the door, and when some one inquires 
' who is there ? ' ' The Holy Inquisition,' is the answer. 
The door is instantly opened — as the officers take the 
whole family if they do not find the accused. If the 
neighbors hear the noise of the coach, they dare not go 
to the windows, for it is well known that no other coach 
but that of the Inquisition is abroad at that time of 
night. Nay, they are afraid to inquire in the morning. 
If the accused be a daughter, son, or father, and some 
relative asks the cause of the tears and grief of the fam- 
ily, the only answer is, the girl was stolen away in the 
night ; or the son, father, or mother did not come home 
the night before, and they suspect is murdered, etc. 
This is the only answer they can give without exposing 
themselves to the same danger. 

" When the doors of all the prisons were opened in 
Spain, by the order of the secretary of Monsieur de 
Legal, the wickedness of the inquisitors was detected. 
Among the prisoners who obtained liberty that day, were 
sixty young women, well dressed, and of good appear- 

* Prom Achilli's " Dealings with the Inquisition," the author is in- 
debted for many important facts contained in this work. 



The Inquifition. 167 

ance, who were the seraglio of the inquisitors, as they 
owned afterwards. The archbishop went to Monsieur de 
Legal and desired these women to be sent to the palace 
of his grace, that he might take care of them and thus 
avoid scandal against the holy tribunal. The governor 
answered, he would do all that he conld to aid the arch- 
bishop, but the French officers took them' all away. One 
of these women afterwards married in France, and re- 
lated to the author* Avhat happened to herself in Zara- 
gossa, and what she there saw. She was young (only 
thirteen), when her mother went one day to visit the 
Countess of Attarass, and there she met Don Francisco 
Torrejon, her confessor, and second inquisitor of the holy 
office. He paid her attention, asked her age, and many 
intricate questions about religion, and she kissed his hand 
reverently when they parted. My dear child, I shall re- 
member you till next time, said the confessor. The 
night folloAvmg he did remember her, for while asleep, 
she was aroused by a loud knocking at the door. The 
maid called out of the window, and was answered, ' the 
Holy Inquisition,' Her own father, like another Abra- 
ham, ran to the door and opened it, and to show his 
gi'eat obedience to the church, put in his child's month a 
bridle, while he was himself in tears. She was speedily 
carried away to an elegant apartment, was furnished with 
the most sumptuous repast, and a magnificent wardrobe. 
Here she met her confessor. Father Torrejon, and was 
made the victim of his iniquities, after which the role 
changed, and she was thrust into her narrow cell. This 
was the like experience of the whole number, which 
often amounted to seventy at a time. Every year some 

* Gavin's Master-Key of Popery. 



l68 The Inquifition. 

of the old ones would suddenly disappear, and new ones 
would come to take their places. 

" ' The next morning after I was there,' she continues, 
'I was shown by the maid the pan and gradual fire: 
this was a dark room with a thick iron door, and within 
an oven and a lar^e brass pan upon it, with a cover of 
the same, and a lock, the oven was burning at that time. 
Then I was shewn a wheel covered on both sides, and 
opening a little window in the centre, and shewing me, 
by the light of the candle, the inside, which was set with 
sharp razors. After that, I was showTi a pit of toads and 
frogs. ' Now,' said my guide, ' I wiU tell you the use of 
these three things. The dry-pan and gradual fire are for 
heretics ; and those who oppose the holy father's will and 
pleasure, they are put alive in the pan, and the cover 
being locked, the executioner begins to put a small fire 
m the oven, and by degrees increasing it until the body 
is reduced to ashes. The wheel is for them who speak 
against the pope and the holy fathers ; the person is put 
inside, and the Uttle door is locked, and the executioner 
turns the wheel until the victim is dead. The pit of 
toads and frogs is designed for all who show contempt 
for images, or disrespect for ecclesiastical persons; the 
victims are thrown into the pit and become their food ! 
This was shown to me that I might, by the fear of in- 
stant death, willingly obey the wishes of the father in- 
quisitor. The three colors of our clothes were the dis- 
tinguishing tokens of the three fother inquisitors. They 
used to give these colors, the three first days, to these 
women they brought for their use. Leonora, my com- 
panion in misery, said she had been over six years in the 
Inquisition, having been taken from her father's house at 
the age of fourteen, and our constant lament is to think 



The Inquiiition. 169 

that the holy fathers will put us to death as soon as they 
are tired of us, and with great reason, for they will never 
run the hazard of being detected by sending out of the 
house any of our companions. After I had been eighteen 
months in that place, the maid came one night and 
ordered us to follow her into the coach, which conveyed 
us to another house, where we were kept for two months ; 
after which we were again removed to another house, 
where we were miraculously delivered by the French 
officers."* 

* For valuable additional facts affecting immediately the interests 
of the people of tliis country, see Supplemental Chapter. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. 

How the ConsUtutions were made known— The result in France — The Means 
taken to avoicr-IXetection— ThediflFerent editions of this Mysterious Work — The 
Boy Trained by Jesuits— The Probationer — Colleges— Public Schools — Studies — 
Blind Obedience — Blasphemous Oath — Jesuit Mission from the Pope to our 
Country — They are above our Civil Laws — The General of the Order — His 
Power — How Elected— The Jesuits Expelled — The Jesuits Restored— Popery 
sustained by them — Pius IX — Protestants Duped by their Deceit — The Ameri- 
can College at Eome— Spies of the Inquisition. 

The "Constitutions" of the "Society of Jesus" were first 
publicly promulgated in the celebrated suit of M. Lionci 
and Father La Yalette. This civil prosecution was 
brought to recover from the Society certain monies lost 
to them by the Jesuits' Mercantile Missions in Martinico. 

The Jesuits were constrained to bring the mysterious 
volume into court, and conscious of the just indignation 
which its publication would excite, they obliged all the 
members of the order to maintain a profound secresy re- 
specting it.* 

All France was aroused to the most intense indignation. 
The parliament issued their decree abolishing and banish- 
ing the " Society of Jesus" from the nation ; and in that 
national act assigned these reasons : " The consequences 
of their doctrines destroy the law of nature : they hreah 
all the bonds of civil society by authorizing theft, lying, 
perjury, the utmost licentiotisness, murd^^ criminal pas- 

* Regulae Communes, § 38. Cited ilouarchie des Solipses, p. 120. 

[170] 



The Society of Jefus. iji 

sions^ wid all manner of sins. These doctrines^ more- 
over, root out all seivtiments of humanity : they over- 
throw all governments, excite rebellion, and uproot the 
foundation and practice of religion. And further, they 
substitute all sorts of superstitions, irreligion, blasphemy, 
and idolatry. 

The mysterious policy of these constitutions was never 
discovered to the ordinary, nor even all the professed, 
Jesuits. To the novices are communicated only the 
apostolical letters of Julius IIL, the abridgment of the 
constitution and the common rules. Nor have the other 
Jesuits access to any additional information concerning 
the nature of their institutes, but such as relates to the 
charge wnth which they are immediately intrusted.* 

The still further precaution was adopted by the gene- 
ral of the order using cyphers in his correspondence, and 
It was directed that immediately on the death of any per- 
son who had in his possession letters from the general, the 
assistants, or the provincial of the order, such letters 
should instantly be burned, without being read. 

Note, — TVhen a history of the Jesuits was published in this country 
by Pitral, the Very Rev. Mr. De Blieck, President of St Xayier Roman 
Catholic College, at Cincinnati, said, in a speech, tliat "It was a tissue 
of lies, and if a smgle charge therein contained was true, I would leave 
the order." Mr. Pitral replied by publicly challenging him to a public 
discussion to prove his assertion, and fnniished further proof to confirm 
what he stated in Iiis book. 

The President Jesuit, bishop, of course, backed out, and Mr. Pitral 
addressed liim thus : " Rev. Father, my position as a Roman priest has 
been such that I know whereof I aCBrm, and you knew that I knew, 
hence the Jesuitism displayed in letting me alone." So we say to the 
whole Romish Hierarchy of this country, you know by the authorities 
we produce, that we know what we state is true, and you may deny 
it if you dare. 

* Monarchic des Solipses. Declar. in Exam. Hist. G-en. dea Jes. 
in.. 239. 



1^2 The Society of Jefus. 

Many edicts which possess the force of laws among the 
Jesuits, it is believed, hnve never been printed;* and even 
the constitutions thev have seldom committed to the 
press but in the colleges of the order. Whenever they 
ventured to print this work elsewhere, they always took 
precautions to secure the whole impression. It was, 
however, clearly impossible that these precautions should 
be universally successful. The order has at all times had 
too many enemies to be able for any long period to re- 
tain the exclusive possession of a volume of which nume- 
rous copies were printed, though not published, and 
which all the activity of malice was exerted to procure. 
Hospinian, in the "Historia Jesuitica," published, in 1619, 
gives a complete abstract of the constitutions. They are 
quoted, with accurate knowledge, in the " Catechisme des 
Jesuites," of Pasqiuer, who died in 1615. They are also 
in the "Historia Jesuitica" of M. Ludovicus Lucius, B:isle, 
1627. M. Bernard, who wrote the "Historie de la 
Compagnie de Jesus," printed at Utrecht in 1T41, refers 
to the edition of Lyons, in 1607, and mention has been 
elsewhere made of an edition in 1599. 

The extracts from the Constitutions of the Jesuits 
which are found in the "Mercure Jesuite," are taken from 
an edition printed at Rome, 1583. There is a volume of 
the " Constitutiones," in small 8vo, in the British Museum, 
Rome, 1570. The copy produced on the trial of La 
Valette, was the edition of Prague, in 2 vols. foHo, 1757, 
and contained 91 pages, " and although it is clear to me," 
says Mr. Penrose,f ■" that numerous additions have incon- 
testibly been made to the original Constitutiones, yet no 
alteration in the letter of the statute has taken place, and 
there is no reason to apprehend that the text of the 
Constitutiones Societatis Jesu, Homoe^ 1570, has at any 

~ Chalotais, p. 20. 

t Eev. John Penrose, M.A., Corpus Christi College, Oxford. 



The Society of Jefus. 1 73 

time been violated. This, also, I believe, was a re-im- 
pression from a preceding edition, in 1550." (1558.) 

It was in 1558, that the volume of Constitutiones, 
translated from the Spanish of Loyala, by father John 
Polancus, was originally committed to the press by the 
college of the society in Rome. A copy of this edition 
has supplied the text from -which, the first Miglish edition 
has been faithfully and accurately reprinted. This Ro- 
man copy of 1558 has been subjected to a scrutiny with 
that printed at Antwerp in 1702, which has the sanction 
of the Society, and they are precisely similar in all par- 
ticulars. It is from this edition, in which every con- 
sideration is made subordinate to undeviating fidelity to 
the original, we are able to give the American reader an 
exact sense of Jesuit-legislation. 

The Romish hierarchy declares to the people of the 
United States the following determination, through its 
chief organ in our country : " The Church is a kingdom 
and a power, and as such must have a supreme chief 
(pope), and this authority is to he exercised over States 
as well as individuals. If the pope directed the Jioman 
Catholics of this country to overthrow the Constitution 
{and put down the American flag) ^ sell the nationality of 
the country^ and annex it as a dependent province to 
Napoleon the Little {a papist sovereign)^ they would be 
hound to ohey. It is the intention of the pope to possess 
this country/^* 

That every protestant, foreign and native, may under- 
stand the means by which the work of " possessing this 
country " is to be accomplished (which is now being at- 
tempted), we commend to their attention the disclosures 
made from the " Constitutions of the Society of Jesus^^"* 
and the " Secret Instructions " of the Jesuits, which are 
unknown to the great majority of the people. 
* Brownson'fl Review. 



174 The Society of Jefus. 

The Freeman''s Journal^ the organ of the Archbishop 
of New York, has the following significant and suggest- 
ive article, on the Atlantic cable : " How are we to re- 
gard this new triumph of mind over matter ? Is it a good 
or an evil ? Unquestionably for a long time the princi- 
pal messages that will go backward and forward will be 
those that relate to finance, and items of news that, on 
the other side of the water, we might live veiy comfort- 
ably without. But the sole reason for such use of the 
telegraph will be that financiers and newsmongers choose 
to employ it and pay for it. It will be as free to others 
as to them. The Church will find occasion to use the 
telegraph; and many a time hereafter the thought at 
Rome will be flashed in a moment of time across land 
and sea to New York, to the valley of the Mississippi, 
and to the Pacific coast of the United States. 

"Rome insists on hearing eoery case and every side 
of every case, before it renders judgment. But if ques- 
tions can be asked and answered in an instant, how many 
delays in matters of importance may hereafter be avoided I 

" We need not comment on how much of personal 
anidety may be relieved, and how much private con- 
venience may be served by this power of instant commu- 
nication. ' But we will go farther. The ultimate extent 
of these developments of intelligence will render it ex- 
tremely difficult for errors of fact to exist. As time 
Drogresses, facilities for freer communication will be 
nmltiplied. Intelligent and free co7nbinatio7i and co- 
op'cration among Catholics can, for the cause of truth, do 
all, and more than all, that combinations of men who 
have in view objects not thus eternally true, can eflTect. 
When the Catholic Press rises to its true level, it will 
find in this grand system of telegraphs a wonderful aid. 



The Society of Jefus. 17^ 

" We will suggest but one other thought in this con- 
nection. The laying down of this telegraph has given to 
Ireland 'd. most remarkable position." 

What does all this Jesuitism mean ? What sort of 
co-operation and combination among Roman Catholics 
for the cause of the truth ? These are deep and solemn 
questions ; 

"After the age of fourteen, the boy enters on probation 
in the ' Society of Jesus.' He is received as a guest, in 
bis usual dress, unless the Superior otherwise determine. 
The following day, it is declared how he shall conduct 
himself. He is told that he is in no way to hold inter- 
course wuthin or without those walls, by word or by 
writing, except with such as are designated by the supe- 
rior for that purpose. This is done, that he may w^eigli 
well with himself and with God, his calling, and resolu- 
tion of serving the divine and Supreme Majesty in this 
society. 

" Two or three days after he enters the house, a more 
accurate examination is made, as is set forth in the duty 
of the examiner, and a written examination is left with 
him to consider alone. Then the Apostolic diploma may 
be shown to him, and the constitutions and the rules to 
be observed in the house he has entered. If he has been 
cultivated, persons are appointed by the superior to as- 
certain how far, and what is the nature of his talents. 
During this first probation, the novice makes a general 
confession to the confessor who shall be designated by the 
superior to receive it. After this, his promise of obedi- 
ence and a register of all he brought to the house is en- 
tered in his handwriting ; he obtains absolution, receives 
the holy Eucharist, and enters the general community 
of novices; and here begins his second probation. If the 
probationer cannot settle himself in a life of obedience to 
be regulated by the society, or if he cannot subject his 



176 The Society of Jefus. 

own opinions and judgment, it will be deemed expedient 
to dismiss him from the society. 

" We come now to the third part, which relates to the 
advancement of those who remain in probation. The 
novice never leaves the house except at such time, and 
with such companions as the superior allows, and must 
persevere in never speaking or writing a word, except by- 
authority of the superior. He is told the soiil^ the soul 
must be his care, and he must read some pious book from 
which all may profit, rather than a difficult one. For the 
sake of holy poverty, he is told he must use nothing as 
his own, but it is not necessary to give up the entii'e pos- 
session of his property while on probation, unless at the 
bidding of his superior, who may deem it a hinderance 
to his spiritual progress. He is then taught that to 
dispense his property or a part for the benefit of the so- 
ciety on his entrance accomplishes a work of great per- 
fection. The superior appoints his confessor, who knows 
what cases should be reserved for his ruler. These boys 
are now drilled into a thorough disclosure to the con- 
fessor. They are told, they must taJce pleasure in thor- 
oughly r)%a7iifesting their whole soul to them, disclosing 
their penances, mortifications, defects, and desiring to be 
guided and directed, if they have deviated from recti- 
tude, and not wishing to be led by their own judgment, 
except it agrees with those who are to them, instead of 
Jesus Christ our Lord! 

" If the novice should, through his confession, mani- 
fest a disposition to pride, he must immediately be put to 
more abject occupations, to humble him, and the modes 
of penance and subjection are left to the 2yrudent charity 
of the superior. A censor superintends both house and 
church, and reports constantly to the superior every 



I 



The Society of Jefus. 177 

tiling relating to external decorum and decency." Ob- 
serve this language ! " Let all think, let all speak, as far 
as possible, the same thing, according to the Apostle. 
Let no contradictory doctrines, therefore, be allowed, 
either by word of mouth, or public sermons, or in writ- 
ten books, which last shall not be published without ap- 
probation and consent of the general (who shall submit 
them to the censure of three, at least, of learning and 
clear judgment in that department). 

" On certain days in every week let the catechism be 
taught and the method of confessing rightly also, of com- 
municating, of hearing the mass, and ministering it ; of 
praying, meditating, reading according to the talent 
of each ; and let it be seen that they practice what they 
learn ; let all employ their time in sjiiritual concerns, and 
persist in acquiring habits of devotion ; to which it will 
greatly contribute to assign certain or even all spiritual 
exercises to such as have not before employed them- 
selves in them." "It is especially conducive to ad- 
vancement, nay, even necessary, that all yield them- 
selves to perfect obedience regarding the superior" 
(be he who he may) as Christ the Lord; "and sub- 
mitting to him with inward reverence and affec- 
tion ; let them obey not only in the outward perform- 
ance of what he enjoins, entirely, promptly, resolutely, 
and with all due humility, without excuses or mur- 
murs, even though he order things hard to be done and 
repugnant to their own senses ; but let them also strive 
to acquire perfect resignation and denial of their own 
will and judgment, in all things conforming their will and 
judgment to that which the superior wills and judges 
(where sin is not perceive<l), the wiU and judgment of the 
su])erior being set before them as the will of their "will 
and judgment." 



lyS The Society of Jefus. 

We next jBnd the novice enjoined on "the virtue of 
obedience." He is not only to obey the superior, but all 
his subordinates, for his, the superior's sake, loJio is Christ 
the Lord. Then they are told to love poverty as their 
mother, and are made to try some of its results at proper 
periods. At the end of the first year, they must distrib- 
ute their temporal goods, as the superior enjoins, under 
the regulations. There must be no literary studies, we 
are told, unless a dispensation should appear necessary 
for peculiar reasons. " For colleges provide for the study 
of literature, and houses for the practice of what they 
have learnt. After living in the eternal performance of 
the rules, we find that all the novices are enjoined to pe- 
tition the superior several times a year, to order them a 
penance for having neglected their ohservance.^'' 

In a chapter on the superintendence of the body, we 
find that " whatever is needful to its sustenance, is ap- 
plied for to the superior, verbally or in writing, but not 
until the novice has had recourse to prayer. After this, 
if he still desires, he may make his petition, which refused 
or granted, he alike feels right. Eating, sleeping, rising, 
etc., are all upon rules of rigid self-denial. The castiga- 
tion of the body, fastings, penances and labors, are dis- 
closed to the confessor, and he reports to the superior. 

After the novice, by his probation, has become a mere 
machine in the superior's hands, he is turned over to 
literature ! So, in the fourth part of the constitutions, 
we discover a chapter of the commemoration of found- 
ers and benefactors of colleges. First : in every college 
of our society let masses be celebrated once a week, for- 
ever, 'for its foimder and benefactors, whether living or 
dead." At the beginning of every month, all the priests 
who are in the college, ought to offer the same sacrifice 



The Society of Jefus. 179 

for them, forever. Once a year a solemn mass must be 
said for the founder, and a wax candle, with the arms of 
the founder, or emblems of devotion, is presented to him 
if living ; if not, to his nearest relative. As soon as the 
society gets possession of a college, the general commu- 
nicates the fact to the whole society, everywhere, that 
every priest may thrice say mass for the living founder ! 
Upon the death of the founder, the general of the order 
has three masses said for his soul throughout the society 
everywhere^ and as often as mass is said by the priests, all 
who are not priests in the college, are bound in gratitude 
to take part- The founders and benefactors of colleges 
are made partakers of all good works which are done by 
the grace of Gody not only in colleges, but in the whole 
society. 

What relates to the admission and relinquishing of 
colleges and her temporal concerns is next discussed. 
Should the founder of a college exact any conditions con- 
trary to the order of the society, the general decides 
whether to admit them or not ; so the general can dis- 
miss a college or house already admitted. 

No scholar can be admitted into college who is unquiet 
and offensive to others in word or act ; none who cannot 
settle himself in a life of obedience ; none that will not 
subject his own judgments and opinions to his superiors, as 
to God. They shall only be admitted among the approved 
scholars who have spent two years under such probation, 
as we have seen, and have taken vows to enter the society. 

*rhe scholars, besides mass and confession, every week, 
must hear mass daily, take one hour in reciting the office 
of the Virgin Mary, examining their consciences twice 
a day, with other prayers, to fill up the hour. Others, 
who have not learned to read, beside mass, must take an 



i8o The Society of Jefus. 

hour in reciting their rosary, or crown of the blessed 
Virgin. 

On their way to the pubhc schools, (they must go no- 
where else,) much is said about external and internal 
modesty : they must renew their simple vows twice a year. 

The studies of each pupil are left mth the superiors ; 
but the acquisition of divers languages, logic, natural and 
moral philosophy, metaphysics, theology, scholastic and 
positive, and the sacred scriptures, which assist that ob- 
ject ; and as the services of any endowed with good na- 
tural abilities, will be useful in proportion to his attain- 
ments in solid learning ; let him be instructed in those 
branches. Let a thorough foundation be laid in the Latin 
language, rather than the liberal arts, then the study of 
the languages in which the sacred scriptures were origin- 
ally written, is, we find, done " to defend their version " 
of the scriptures. 

Latin is the tongue spoken in the colleges by the " stu- 
dents in humanity ;" composition, public and private ex- 
temporaneous speaking, lectures, etc., — all these have 
their place, but they are enjoined to avoid every appear- 
ance of ambition, and other inordinate passions. 

" Let public schools be opened, at least for polite learn- 
ing, when it can be done, and let care be taken that all the 
scholars attend the sacrament oi confession once a month, 
and let them be well instructed in Christian learning ! 

"The correction with the external scholars should 
never be withheld, only let it be administered by some 
one who is not of our society. It is peculiar to our soci- 
ety that we receive no temporal remuneration for spirit- 
ual services, etc. 

Chapter VIII. is devoted to directions to the scholars 
in what relates to their fellow-creatui-es. Here thev are 



The Society of Jefus. i8l 

told to employ all means to win others to the service 
which engages them. "The methods the society pur- 
sues (which must be engaged over the various quarters 
of the world, and with such different classes of men,) in 
preventing the inconveniences which may arise, and in 
securing the emoluments which contribute to the greater 
glory of God, by employing all the means which can pos- 
sibly be employed ; and although that unction of the 
Holy Ghost, and that wisdom which God is wont to com- 
municate to those who confide in his Divine Majesty, can 
only teach this, a way may still be opened by which the 
scholar may use his lessons to the furtherance of the soci- 
ety to the glory of God ! 

The whole power, and administration, and superintend- 
ence of the colleges is in the general of the order, who 
appoints the rectors, etc. 

Observe, now, the subordination inculcated, requiring 
that they should " Revere and venerate their rector, as 
one who holds the place of Christ our Lord ; leaving to 
him the free disposition of themselves and their con- 
cerns, with unfeigned obedience ; keeping nothing con- 
cealed from him, not even their consciences^ which they 
should disclose to him — as is set forth in the Examen — at 
the appointed seasons, and oftener if any cause require it ; 
not opposing, not contradicting, not showing an opinion 
in any case opposed to 7iis opinion. They should pay 
obedience to their superiors in the place of Christ. 

Regularity is so enjoined, that when the signal for a 
stated duty is given, the pupil must obey, not stojDping to 
complete a single letter ! 

Of the books which should be studied in the universi- 
ties of the society, they insist on the more solid and more 



1 82 The Society of Jefus. 

safe in doctrine, like St. Thomas,* Dens' Class Book of 
Maynooth College, Escobar, Liguori, Sanchez, etc., etc. ; 
nor are any entered on, whose doctrine or authors are 
suspected. 

We find much badinage on the subject of not receiving 
money, saying, " the Lord Christ is alone to be their re- 
ward !" 

We come now to the mode by which the society ad- 
mits to profession : At the time appointed, the general, 
or some one empowered by him, offers the sacrifice of 
mass in the church, in the presence of the inmates of the 
house and others ; when the person receives the Euchar- 
ist, and with a loud voice pronounces his written vow, 
in these words : " I, N., make profession and promise 
Almighty God, before his Virgin Mother, and before 
all the heavenly host, and before all bystanders, and 
you reverend father, general of the society, holding the 
place of God^ and your successors ; or you, reverend 
father vice-general of the Society of Jesus, and of his 
successors, holding the place of God^ perpetual poverty, 
chastity and obedience, and therein, peculiar care in tlie 
education of boys^ according to the form of living con- 
tained in the apostolic letters of the Society of Jesus, and 
in its constitutions. Moreover, I promise special obedi- 
ence to the Pope, m missio?is, as is contained in the same 
apostolic letters and constitutions. Then the name of 
the country, the day, month, year and church is added, 

^ St. Thomas Aquinas is commanded in their constitutions but is 
not at present a text-book in their colleges, because they have invented 
other doctrines in opposition : as, for example, upon the doctrine of 
the grace of God and free will of men. Concerning the grace of God, 
they hold the famous doctrine the "Gracia versatilis," the grace accommo- 
dating itself to the uUl of men ! 



The Society of Jefus. 183 

M'ith the name of the person to whom he made the vow. 
" Then he partakes of the most holy body of Christ and the 
services conclude as before. He leaving all things to his 
superior, who doubtless holds theplace of Christ our Lord.'''' 

Those who are admitted as scholars^ after their first 
probation, vow in this manner : " Almighty, Everlasting 
God, I, N., albeit every way most unworthy in thy holy 
sight, yet relying on thy infinite pity and compassion, 
and impelled by the desire of serving thee, in the pres- 
ence of the most holy Virgin Mary, and before all thine 
heavenly host, vow to thy Divine Majesty, perpetual 
poverty, chastity and obedience, in the Society of Jesus, 
and promise that I will enter the same society to live in 
it perpetually, understanding all things according to the 
constitution of the society. Of thy boundless goodness 
and mercy, through the blood of Jesus Christ, I humbly 
pray that thou wilt deign to accept this sacrifice in the 
odor of sweetness, and as thou hast granted thine abund- 
ant grace to desire and ofier, so thou wilt enable me to 
fulfill the same. 

The sixth part, of this extraordinary work, instructs as 
to the persons of those who have been adopted into the 
society. Holy Obedience is so strenuously enjoined, that 
they are bound to obey where there appears the slightest 
indication of the superior's pleasure^ without any express 
command. They are told to attend to his voice, just as 
if it proceeded from Christ our Lord, (for as much as we 
pay obedience to Jlis place,) persuading ourselves that 
everything is Just ; sitppressing every repugnant thought 
and judgment of our own in a certain obedience, and that 
moreover in all things which are determined by the supe- 
rior. Thus obedient, he should execute anything on which 
the superior chooses to employ him in the service of the 



184 The Society of Jefus. 

society ; and altogether believe that he will answer the di-' 
vine will better, than by following his own will and differ- 
ing judgment. " They are commanded," (even in the in- 
ner man), "to reverence their superiors as Jesus Christ 
in them.'''' Let every one persuade himself, that they who 
live under obedience should permit themselves to be 
moved and directed under divine providence by theii* su- 
periors, just as if they were a corpse^ which allows itself 
to be moved and handled in any way ; or as the staff of 
an old man, which serves him wherever and in whatever 
thing, he who holds it in his hand pleases to use it ! ! ! 

Poverty, they preach as the highest virtue. Let us look 
at their crafty instructions on this subject. When the 
pope or superior orders them, (in the United States, for 
example,) they must present themselves freely, for the 
glory of God ! They are to wear a becoming dress ac- 
commodated to the custom of the place, but one, that 
does not contradict their profession of poverty. They 
are forbidden to allow trifles to be given to the great, 
which they say is to get something more valuable in re- 
turn, and are not to frequent the society of the leading 
men^ except when the love of pious works, or their intL 
macy with them, makes it appear a duty ! 

They are told, to abstain as far as possible from secular 
affairs.* " No one, of the professed coadjutors, or even 
scholars of the Society of Jesus, may allow himself to be 
examined without the license of the superior in civil or 
criminal causes, and the superior will never grant per- 
mission, except in causes, which relate to the JRoman 
Catholic Religion^''\ 

^" Eeader, watch these Jesuits, who control the Roman Catholic 
Church in the United States, wliose minions boast, through their presses, 
in open day, that they aim to control the destinies of our country 1 

•(• P. 62, Constitution of the Society of Jesus. 



The Society of Jefus. 185 

We turn to chapter V. in the sixth part, which has this 
astounding heading : " That the constitutions involve no 
obligation to commit sin." " It seems good to us in the 
Lord, that excepting the express vow by which the so- 
ciety is bound to the pope for the time being, and the 
three other essential vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obe- 
dience, no Constitutions, declarations, or any order of 
living, can involve an obligation to sin mortal or venial ; 
unless the superior command them in the name of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, or in virtue of holy obedience j which 
shall be done in those cases or persons, wherein it shall 
be judged that it loill greatly conduce to the particular 
good of each, or to the general advantage; and instead 
of the fear of offence, let the love and desire of all perfec- 
tion succeed that the greater glory and praise of Christ 
our Creator and Lord may follow /" 

The seventh part of the constitution treats of the 
Pope's missions throughout the vineyard of the Lord. 
The vow, to the vicar of Christ, puts them at his dis- 
posal and binds them without any excuse to go into 
whatever part of the world, he shall send them, whether 
amongst believers or unbelievers. " Since the society 
has engaged every thought and will of its own to Christ 
our Lord and his vicar, neither the general of the society 
for himself nor any subordinate member for himself, may 
directly or indirectly treat with the pope or his ministers 
to remain or be sent into any part, rather than another ; 
but inferior members shall leave all considerations of this 
kind to the vicar of Christ and their superior ; while the 
superior shall leave whatever relates to his person to the 
pope and the society of the Lord. Let him yield himself 
freely when appointed by his holiness to do whatever 
service is most acceptable to the Apostolic See." 



1 86 The Society of Jefus. 

If the pope designates no individual, the superior de- 
termines who is best adapted to the mission. It is pro- 
per that the whole mission be fully disclosed to the party- 
sent, and the object of the pope's intention ; and if pos- 
sible in writing, that what is enjoined be more exactly 
accomplished. 

" If the time he is to remain in a place be not specified 
by the pope, he may remain there months more or less ; 
or in short, as it shall be conducive to the general benefit. 
All of which shall be conducted at the superior's determi- 
nation, who shall regard the pope's sacred intention for 
the service. 

" Beside the business enjoined on him, he should con- 
sider in what other way he may employ his efforts, with- 
out detriment to his mission, as said before. 

" The General of the society, may also send out mem- 
bers wherever he shall judge most expedient, but who, 
nevertheless, are prepared to obey the Apostolic See. And 
it is the duty of those sent to yield full and free obedi- 
ence to the Superior, as one who governs him in the place 
of Christ. Wherefore, the superior who sends any, (should 
generally instruct in writing,) is to be informed by fre- 
quent letters, how the mission goes on. 

Speaking of a willing mission in any direction ; the 
constitution says : " when its members are dispatched to 
an extensive region, (like India, or the United States for 
example,) larger liberty must be allowed, that they may 
go from place to place ; if, not repugnant to the pope ; 
that God may dispose all men to receive his grace, by 
means of their society. 

" Whoever is endowed with the talent of writing 
books conducive to the common good, and shall compose 
such; nevertheless, shall not publish them except the 



The Society of Jefus. 1 87 

general shall previously see them, and subject them to 
the judgment ^nd censure of others; that if they shall 
seem good for edification they may come before the pub- 
lic and not otherwise."* 

The eighth part of the " Constitutions of the Society of 
Jesus," treats of the mutual union among its members 
dispersed over the globe with their superior, and among 
themselves. 

This union, we discover, is indispensable to the aim 
they have in view, and for this reason only their select men 
are admitted to profession, and are coadjutors or scholars 
After dwelHng at length upon union, and obedience 
to the shining lights of the order near them ; it claims 
" a frequent intercourse between inferiors and superiors 
and immediate intelligence of one another; and the 
knowledge of all that is communicated from various 
places for edification, and of all that happens, will greatly 
assist also ; such arrangements being made, that in every 
place whatever tends to mutual consolation and edifi- 
cation in the Lord, may be known from the others. 
Chap. I., part 8, p. 73. Thus it is that the confessional 
drills this papal militia — the body-guard of the pope in 
the United States, and makes the pope of Rome and the 
Jesuit generals and superiors throughout the world, as 
familiar with every political religious movement in our 
country, as though they dwelt in the White House, at 
Washington. 

Chapter II. of part eighth, informs us that on very 

* Hero we see the authority with which Dens, Bailey, etc., wrote 
their theologies, Sanchez and Le Grand their " Mysteries of Marriage," 
and here is the source of all the polluted and obscene books which 
constitute the religious studies and works of the Jesuits, as seen in this 
volume. 



1 88 The Society of Jefus. 

special occasions, the Jesuits hold general congregations? 
but the system of tactics is so very complete, that there 
is seldom an occasion to render this necessary. We find 
when this congregation is called, it is not the whole 
Jesuit militia, but the professed of which they have com- 
paratively few, and certain coadjutors.* Upon the death 
of the general, the vicar, whom he nominates before death 
for the duty, informs all the rest of his professed brethren, 
who assemble to elect a successor. The election is made 
in a similar way to that of the pope, each claiming that 
tb£, Holy Ghost impels to it ! The " Constitutions " fur- 
ther say : " And if by general inspiration, without await- 
ing the process of voting all should elect the same, he 
shall be General. For the Holy Ghost, who impels to 
such an election, easily suppUes the want of every order 
and form of electing." "When elected " all come forth to 
do him reverence, and on both their knees shall kiss his 
hand." 

Chapter II. part 9, treats of " What sort of person 
the general should be," and says, "that he be most 
intimate and familiar -with God and our Lord, as well in 
prayer, as in all his actions." In the following chapter, 
his power over the society is discussed. And here we 
see, that it belongs to him to see the Constitutions of the 
society observed everywhere. That he can grant dis- 
pensation in all cases where dispensation is necessary ; 
and with the prudence which the Light external shall 
communicate. That he shall determine the study of 
literature, as he pleases, in all the houses, colleges, and 
other institutions of the society, over the whole earth. 
That in him is vested all authority over rectors, preceptors, 

* The reader will remember, that the professed are tmder the last 
vow, and can never be anything else than a Jesuit. 



The Society of Jefus. 189 

and officials of colleges, and all other institutions of their 
order. That every Jesuit is subject to him, whether pro- 
fessed or not and he may resolve to send them to any part 
of the world for a period definite or indefinite, as he shall 
determine, to do any action of those which the society is 
wont to exercise for the succor of souls. He may recall 
missionaries, and proceed in all things as he shall think 
for the greater glory of God ! In no wise, however, oppos- 
ing these missions, which originate with the Apostolic See. 

The general shall arrange the duties of confessors, 
preachers, and lecturers, according to the talent of each 
man for the station. He shall avail himself of the powers 
conferred on the society by the pope, and communicate 
so much of them to each inferior member, as he shall 
judge useful, etc. He shall employ corrections, and en- 
join penances adequate to the satisfaction of all defects, 
regard being had to persons and circumstances. He 
generally appoints his provincials, rectors of colleges, etc., 
for three years, but even that period may be shortened 
and extended, when it shall seem to the greater glory of 
God and our Lord ! He must take care the society de- 
rive advantage, and not detriment, in all things. He 
shall scrutinize, as far as possible, the consciences of those 
who are under his obedience, and especially to whom he 
entrusts duties of great importance.* 

After such superhuman authority, as is vested in the 
general, we are surprised to find he, too, has a superin- 
tendent ! Chapter IV. so instructs " that even perfect 
men have a soul to be cared for." So this office is to 
remind the general, with great modesty and humility, 
what he believes is required of him to the greater service 

* Provincials, to wliom he entrusts duties of great importance, and 
obedience and reverence should always be paid him as one who holds 
the place of Christ. 



190 The Society of Jefus. 

and glory of God. He is to be reminded, if he has 
committed " mortal sms, proceeding to external acts ; 
used the revenues of the college for his own purposes, or 
alienated the real estate of the society," etc. 

In chapter YI. part 9, the duty of the general is de- 
fined, and much stress is laid upon the character of the 
provincials and the local superiors, in the government of the 
society, and a man celebrated for learning and other gifts, 
must reside with the superior to inspect the concerns of 
India ; another of Spain and Portugal ; another of France 
and Germany ; another of England ; and another of the 
United States of America ; and so of the rest, wherever 
the society is scattered, and every one of them ought to 
recommend to God the part specifically entrusted to him. 
Provincials, rectors of colleges, or superiors of houses, 
should have their assistants, to whom they shall commu- 
nicate the more important occurrences; although after 
hearing their opinion, the power of determining is in 
themselves. 

In the tenth part, we find the " society was not institu- 
ted by human means, but by grace of the Almighty God, 
and our Lord Jesus Christ ; and to preserve it in its 
prosperous conditions great diligence must be used to re- 
move ambition, the mother of all evils in every common- 
wealth and society ; and let not the society be deprived 
of the men who are necessary to the end it has in view. 
Let every one consider by what means he can promote 
the salvation of souls, in humility and submission, to our 
profession ; he shall at all times listen to the advice of 
the general, or any one appointed by him.'''' 

Whatever tends to unite every member of the society 
with its Head, must be done ; this is accomplished by 
uniting individuals to superiors, and these ^dth one 



The Society of Jefus. 191 

another, and mth their provincials, and all with the 
general. Let them neither be, nor be shown any ten- 
dency of feelings for either side of any faction, which 
may perchance occur among christian princes or rulers ; 
but a certain universal love, embracing all parties in the 
Lord, even though opposed to each other ! " 

The first approbation of the Society of Jesus, was made 
by Pope Paul III., in 1540. Its suppression by Pope 
Clement, took place 21st July, 1773. The pope hesita- 
ted on the subject four years before he signed the bull, 
aware, as he was, of the importance of this order to the 
church, and the scandal which would follow its sup. 
pression. But the propaganda, furnished him means of 
understanding the danger, as well as the benefit of the 
order, which were unknoTvn to the rest of the world ; and 
he deliberately pronounced it inherently wicked and 
mischievous, dangerous to the peace of the w^orld and 
unworthy of longer toleration ! 

In the two centuries the Society had existed, at that 
time, it had so disturbed the peace of Europe, that thirty- 
seven states had suppressed it before the pope did so. 
But, in 1814, the Pope Pius declared " that the whole 
catholic world demanded with a unanimous voice, the re- 
establishment of the Society of Jesus, and that it would 
be a great crime towards God^ to neglect the aid which 
the special providence of God had put at the disposal of 
the Roman Catholic church, and if placed in the bark of 
Peter, tossed and assailed by continual storms, we re- 
fused to employ the vigorous and experienced rowers^ 
who volunteer their services, in order to break the waves 
of a sea, which threaten every moment shipwreck and 
death." He further declared in his bull, that all the con- 
cessions and powers granted to the Russian empire; and 



192 The Society of Jefus. 

the two Sicilies, should henceforth extend to all his ec- 
clesiastical states, and also to all other states, and he 
closed his edict forbidding any one to infringe, or by an 
audacious temerity to oppose all, or any part of this ordi- 
nance. 

In entire consistency with this, every succeeding pope 
has cooperated with the Jesuits, to the present hour* 
Pius IX, is using these " experienced rowers^'' in the United 
States, with a success that seems incredible. Here, the 
only country from which they have never been expelled, 
and where they have fled, when the governments of Eu- 
rope were reduced to the necessity of driving them out, — 
here they have already made great progress in under- 
mining our civil and religious liberties. 

Now, when the pope, the head of this order, declares 
that the rehgious orders hold the first place in our Re- 
public, and that the Romish Church owes its lustre and 
support to these orders, and has endowed them with 
many exemptions, privileges and faculties, we ask the 
judgment of our Protestant fellow-citizens, upon the pro- 
priety of an immediate legal expulsion of the Jesuits from 
our country. 

In the design for acquiring accessions to the church of 
the pope, we find " American catholic Hbraries," for the 
avowed purpose of obtaining proselytes, by lending gra- 
tuitously, books treating of religious controversies and 
piety, " especially to their Protestant countrymen." When 
under the influence of admiration for the pageant of the 
ceremonies, the delicious music, etc., Protestants, ill- 
grounded in their own principles, and favorably impressed 
by their influence and polite attentions, are easily inter- 
ested and taken captive. 



The Society of Jefus. 193 

These Jesuits have found their way into colleges, theo- 
logical institutions of Protestants at this day, in England 
and the United States. They j^retend to be converted, 
and enter Protestant churches. They were found in the 
Reformed church in France and Holland, and caused 
grievous and fatal divisions by false doctrine. They were 
in the ranks of the old English Puritans. This was dis- 
covered by a letter from the Jesuit confessor of the 
king of England, to the Jesuit confessor of Louis XIV. 
" How admirably our people imitate the Puritan preach- 
ers," said he, in this intercepted letter. 

An American college at Rome, for the education of the 
sons of America, according to the Romish organs in our 
country, is now being built ! That is a fresh step to ad- 
vance the subtle power of Romanism. The pope ordered 
the funds for this purpose, (one hundred thousand dollars) 
to be raised in the United States. Did Protestants 
contribute ? 

" The English college " at Rome, has been eminently 
useful in helping Romanism in England. 

In October, 1827, the pope for the first time in several 
centuries, visited their summer retreat, fourteen miles 
from Rome. A student then present, described the affa- 
bility and condescension of the pope, in a very graphic 
manner. He allowed the pupils to kiss his foot and his 
hand ; blessing their heads ; dining at their table ; and 
conferring on them, as they knelt before him, the very 
significant appellation, " the hope of the church." He 
went home to the Vatican, and sent a present of a beau- 
tiful young calf, ornamented with flowers ; and directing 
his masters of ceremonies, that in the procession of the 
Corpus Christi, the students of the English college should 



194 The Society of Jefus. 

carry the hangings which are borne over the pope, as he 
carries the holy sacrament.* 

Maynooth College, in Ireland, from whence most of the 
Jesuit priests of our country emigrate, was at first founded 
for ecclesiastical scholars alone, but a lay department was 
afterwards added by the Jesuits, to secure their system 
of education to secular men. 

We see now that the Jesuits have neither heart, soul 
nor conscience. They are sent to our country to do any 
deed they are ordered, no matter how bloody. They come 
under sealed orders, and ask for the education of the chil- 
dren,according to their own maxim : " Give us the educa- 
tion of the children of this day, and the next generation 
will be ours — ours in maxims, in morals and religion." 
They are now doing with education in the United 
States exactly what they have done in every European 
kingdom. They affect all the learning of the world ; 
they establish their academies, and their professional 
honors to win the young into their embrace. The Jesuit 
nuns are pursuing the same course in concert with the 
aspiring and licentious priests, in deluding young girls. 
These "Sisters of Charity," " Sisters of the Sacred Heart," 
etc., invade the sanctity of tamilies,and ensnare the souls 

* In this manner attentions are lavished on Americans by the pope's 
hierarchy among us; for America, like England, is the hope of 
the church 1 Other orders, encouraged by the example of tlie Society 
of Jesus, are directing all their energies to extend and perpetuate the 
dominion of the Holy See among us. The Jesuits, we should under- 
stand, do not limit their education to ecclesiastics ; but their object is» 
through their peculiar system of instruction, to obtain influence, not 
over the clergy alone, but over the minds of all ranks and professions* 
especially those who might rise to eminence iu political and secular 
pursuits. 



The Society of Jefus. 195 

of tho innocent and confiding. Their zeal is more fervent 
foi- the cause of the pope in the United States, than in 
any other country in the world. 

When Pope Clement XIV. abolished the Society of 
Jesus in 1773, as being too diabolical to be endured by 
humanity ; he said, " It will cost me my life, but I must 
abolish the dangerous order." It did cost him his life. 
A notice was placarded on his gate a few days after 
his bull appeared, stating that, "the See would soon be 
vacated by the death of the pope." He died of poison 
a few days after that announcement. On his dying bed 
the pope said to those around him, "I am g'^'ing to 
eternity, and I know for what ! "* 

Reader, remember that in the mission of the Jesuits 
now in the United States, they are entirely dependent 
upon the Roman Catholic bishops. They must commu- 
nicate, for example, with them upon every thing relating 
to the advancement of the papal church. The bishop? are 
appointed as Apostolic Legates, to oversee and superin- 
tend the Jesuits, and to counsel, assist and direct them in 
every possible manner that will further the cause of 
popery among us. 

Every bishop in the United States is the head of the 
interests of the Roman Catholic church in his own diocese. 
He is responsible for every thing that is done, and must 
secretly give account to the Holy See of the different 
operations of the missions in his diocese. This corres- 
pondence Archbishop Hughes and the rest of the bishops 
must hold directly with the Inquisition, and by means of 
the Inquisition,he receives all his instructions. 

The spirit of the Inquisition is the spirit of every 

•Brewster's Encyclo., vol. xi,, p. 171. 



196 The Society of Jefus. 

Roman Catholic bishop. The doctrine of the Jesuits 
must be received by every bishop. He is threatened with 
canonical penalties in case of non-performance of these 
obligations. By this is meant a suspension from his 
office, and a fine to be paid to the Holy See, if he does 
not exactly fulfil these duties to the Jesuits. 

Every bishop, on being consecrated, receives these in- 
structions, which are so many laws of which he must w^ell 
inform himself, and scrupulously obey. Amongst the 
many oaths which he is obliged to take, is one which is 
regarded of the highest importance, by which he promises 
" to obey all the laws of the Holy Inquisition^^'^ and to 
give every kind of assistance to advance the interests of 
the Holy Mother Roman Church in his diocese.* 

The semi-centennial celebration of the Jesuit college of 
Mount St. Marys, at Emmittsburg, Maryland, occurred 
the present month (October, 1858). _The event is said 
to have been regarded " by the*~entire Catholic com- 
munity of the United States with extraordinary interest." 
The Pope of Rome was toasted, with this Jesuitical 
remark by the president of the college : " It is not 
because he is a sovereign, but because, whether in ad- 
versity or prosperity, he is the friend of man^ of liberty^ 
and liberal principles .'" 

Archbishop Hughes responded in these words : " There 
never was a Sovereign Pontiff who showed more kind- 
ness to the United States than Pio ISTono has done !" 
" He delights to learn there is more need of more mis- 

• The archbishop of the diocese of New York has recently publicly de- 
clared himself a member of the " Society of Jesus." This he did when 
he laid the corner stone of the new St. Patrick's Cathedral, and put the 
motto of the Jesuits at the head of the stone. This, none but a Jesuit 
can do. The motto is A. M. D. G. — " Ad majorum Dei gloriam." 



J 



The Society of Jefus. 197 

sions and more bishops — a paternal love of which other 
nations have been jealous. This has been exemplified by 
the origin of the idea that America should have a college 
near the centre of unity. (Applause.) It was not extra- 
ordinary, perhaps, that he was pleased with the idea of 
an American college at Rome ; but it was hardly to be 
expected that he should appropriate, out of his own pri- 
vate purse, $42,000, as he had done ! and I do not fear 
that we shall be failing, when the pope appeals to us in 
behalf of this institution. It is natural he should wish 
to draw this country near to the eternal rock on lohich 
Christ built his church. In accordance with the rules of 
the Society of Jesus, a solemn requiem mass was chanted 
for the souls of the dead founders of St. Mary's College, 
and the procession formed according to the constitutions 
of the Jesuits, while the bells tolled a solemn dirge."* 

* N. Y. Herald. 



CHAPTER YI. 

i THE PELS'CIPLES OF JESUITISM. 

Introductory — Philosophical Sin — ^Vincent Fillincius— John De Lugo — Anthony 
Escobar — Thomas Tamlusin— George de Ehodes — Isaac de Bruyn — Blasphemy — 
Casnedi— Profanation— Francis De Lugo — George Gobat — Tracha'a — Impiety — 
John of Sales— James Gordon — Imago — Escobar — Amadeus Guimenius — Jesuits 
of Caen — John Marin — Le Meyne— Francis Odin — Idolatry — Gabriel Vasquez — 
Perjury — Lying — Fa!se Witness — Sanchez— Leonard Lessins — Fillincins — Bu- 
senbaum and Lacroix — Theft and Secret Compensation — Emmanuel Sa — Eegi- 
nald— Francis Amicus — Thomas Tamlusin— Stephen Baury — Homicide— Henry 
Henriquez — Keginald— Fagundez — Amicus — Airanlt — Parricide and Homicide 
— Gobat— Fagundez— Suicide and Homicide — Bridgewater — Eobert Bellarmine 
— ^Frances Tolet — Marianna — John Ozorius — Andrew Endcemen— John — James 
Keller — Benedict Justinian — Leonard Lessins — John De Descastiile— James 
Gretser— The Pope Absolves from all Civil Oaths — Jame^ Gretser — Paul Lay- 
mann — Busenbaum and Lacroix — Gregory of Talentia. 

The " principles" of the Jesuits are so intensely blas- 
phemous and depraved, that much of them cannot be re- 
produced upon these pages. They write and publish only 
by the authority of their Society, consequently their icorks 
are binding upon every member throughout the world. 
Some extracts from a few of their most accredited works, 
will exhibit the teaching and practices of these dis- 
guised and subtle foes to civil and religious freedom — 
now so formidable in the United States — and we submit 
them, without further comment, to the American people : 

Philosophical Six, eic. 

Yaleeius Regi^'ald: Praxis fori pcenitentialis. Lug- 
duni, 1620. (Colonice, 1622, Ed. Coll. Sion.) If a man 

(198) 



The Principles of Jefuitifm. 199 

does not reflect that it is not lawful to delight in a sin, 
and while his icill is abhorrent from it, he is evidently ex- 
cused from sin^ although he should think upon it icith 
delight for a whole day?'' — Lib. xi. cap. 5, sec. 3, n. 46. 

The reason is, as long as the understanding does not 
reflect on the wickedness of that which is offered to the 
wilL . . . The consent of the will is not a sin, etc. Paul 
Laymanx. Theologia Moralis. Lutetiae Parisiorum, 
1627. (Ed. Coll. Sion.) Saurez, Sanchez and Vosquez 
are right, who maintain that for an action to be impiited 
nnto man for sin, it is necessary that the agent reflect, or 
should have reflected, upon the sinfulness of the action 
or on the danger of the sin. — Tract. 2, cap. 4, n. 6. 

If the mind is so absorbed in what may be convenient 
or useful, that it either reflects not at all or very slightly 
upon the discredit of an acticn : in which case it either 
will be no sin or only an imperfect or venial sin ; which 
I think happens with those who are so completely absorbed 
in the excess of their sorroio, that they commit suicide. 
—lb. Tract. 3, cap. 5, n. 13. 

VixcEXT FiLLixcius I (JforaHum Quoestionum de 
Christianis Officiis et Casibus Conscientioe, Tomus ii. 
Lugduni, 1633. (Ursellis, 1625. Ed. Coll. Sion.) An 
action which is contrary to the natural aud divine laic, 
will not be imjnitedunto us for sin, except in as far as ice 
knew it to be sinful. — Tract, xxi, cap. 4, de Consc, n. 116. 

John De Lugo. Disputationes Scholasticm de Incar- 
Tiatione Dominica. (Lugduni, 1633. Lugduni, 1646. Ed. 
Bibl. Acad. Cant. (In the words of God to Adam. " In 
the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt sure'y die"" — " if 
thou shall eat it knowingly''^ must be understood, for if he 
had eaten, without reflecting on the offence to God, he had 
not sinned. ... As Christ said to Peter, '-'■ If I wa^h 



200 The Principles of Jefuitifm. 

thee not, thou hast no part with me," so Paul said to the 
Corinthians, '■''If ye are adulterers^ ye shall not inherit the 
kingdom of God.'*'' But as Peter would not have in- 
curred the penalty if he had not adverted to the command 
of Christ, so neither would the Corinthians, if they had 
not adverted to the divine offence ; without which, al- 
though it would have been a philosophical adultery (if 
I may so express myself) yet it would not have amounted 
to a theological adidtery^ of which Paul was speaking, 
since he spoke of it, in terms of a mortal siji. — Disp. 5, 
Sect. 6, n. 101. 

Anthony Escobar : Liber Theologice Moralis Viginti 
guatuor Societatis Jesu Doctoribus resei^atus. Lugduni, 
1656. (Lugduni, 1659. Ed. Mus. Brit.) A confessor 
perceives that his penitent '•'•is in invincible ignorance or 
at least in innocemt ignorance^ and he does not hope any 
benefit will be derived from his advice; but rather anxiety 
of mind., strife or scandal^ should he dissemble P" Saurez 
affirms that he ought, because, since his admonition will 
be fruitless, ignorance will excuse his penitent from sin. 
— ^Tr. vii. Sacram. Exam en. iv. de Poenitentia, c. 7, n. 155. 

Thomas Tamburin. See Methodus Expeditce Con- 
fessionis. Lugduni, 1659. AntverpisB, 1656. Ed. Coll. 
Sion. Lib. ii, c. 3, sec. 3, n. 23. Although he who, 
through inveterate habit inadvertently swears a falsehood, 
may seem bound to confess the propensity, yet he is com- 
monly excused. — Lib. ii, c. 3, § 3, n. 23. Since he is 
excused from the sin, he will be excused also, from con- 
fession. — ^Lib. ii, c. 3, § 3, n. 24. 

Some maintain, that the same must be said of blas- 
phemy, heresy, and of the aforesaid oath. . . . and con- 
sequently that such things committed inadvertently are 
neither sins in themselves., nor the cause of sin, and there- 



The Principles of Jefuitifm. 201 

fore need not necessarily he confessed. — Lib. ii, c. 3, § 3, 
n. 25. 

Geoege de Rhodes. Disputationum Theologioe Scho- 
lasticce, Tomus Prior, Lugduni, 1671. Wherever there 
is no knowledge of wickedness, there is also, of necessity, 
no sin. It is sufficient to have a confused knowledge of 
the heinousness of a sin, without which knowledge there 
would ?iever be a flagrant crime. For instance, one man 
kills another, believing it to be nothing more than a trifl- 
ing fault. Such a man does not greatly sin, because it is 
knowledge, only, which points out the wickedness. . . . 
Therefore criminality is only imputed according to the 
measure of knowledge. — {De Actihus Humanis. Disp. 2, 
Quaest. 2, sect. 1, § 2.) If a man commit adultery or 
homicide, reflecting, indeed, but still very imperfectly 
and superficially, upon the great sinfulness of these 
crimes, however heinous may he the matter, he still sins 
hut slightly. The reason is, that as a knowledge of the 
wickedness is necessary to constitute the sin, so is a full, 
clear knowledge and reflection necessary to constitute a 
heinous sin. — De Actihus Humanis. Disp. 2, Qusest. 2, 
sect. 1, § 2. 

And thus I reason with Vasquez : In order that a man 
may freely sin, it is necessary to deliberate whether he 
sins or not. But lie fails to deliberate upon the morcd 
wickedness of it, if he does not reflect, at least by doubt- 
ing, upon it, during the act. Therefore he does not sin, 
unless he reflects upon the wickedness of it. — ^Disp. 1, 
Quaest. 3, sect. 2, § 3. 

It is also certain that a full knowledge of such wicked- 
ness is required to constitute a mortal sin. For it could 
be unworthy the goodness of God to exclude a man from 
glory, and to reject him forever, for a sin on which he 



202 The Principles of Jefuitifm. 

had not fully delibe)xited : hut if reflection upon the 
wickedness of it has only been partial^ deliheration has 
not been complete^ and therefore the sin is not a mortal 
sin. — ^De Peccatis, Disp. 1, Quaest. 3, sect. 2, § 3. 

Isaac De Beuyo^t : ( Theologia quam. Preside M. P. 
Is. de Bruyn^ defendent^ etc. . . . ^Vi Collegio Societatis 
Jesu. Lovanii, 1687.) The existence of God is demon- 
strated. . . . yet as this is not known in itself, nor de- 
clared in express terms in reference to us, there may exist, 
at least for a very short time, an invincible ignorance of 
it, especially among the less instructed (Positio 2). 

Chaeles ANTHOiNT Casnedi I GHsis Theologica. 
Ulissypone, 1711. So far from being false, I hold it to 
be most true, that a man sins not, when he does that 
which he considers to be right, without any remorse or 
scruple of conscience. — Tom. i, Disp. 7, sect. 3, § 2, n. 
149. 

It is the constant doctrine of the theologians, accord- 
ing to Father Maya and St. Thomas, that there is an in- 
vincible ignorance of some precepts, not only those Avhich 
relate to mysteries of faith, but also of the precepts of 
the decalogue: as usury, lying, fornication, which are 
not sins in reference to those icho are thits i?7vincibly ig- 
norant. — Tom. ii, Disp. 16, Sect. 2, § 1, n. 61. 

Blasphemy : Charles Anthoxy Casxedi : Crisis 
TTieologica JJlysslpone, 1711. . . . If through invincible 
error you believe lying or blasphemy to be commanded 
by God, blaspheme. — Tom. i, Disp. 6, Sect. 2, § 1, n. 59. 

Omit the worship of God, if you invincibly believe it 
to be prohibited by God. — Ibid. 

As often as you believe invincibly that a lie is com- 
manded, lie.— Ibid. § 2, n. 78. 

Let us suppose a Catholic to believe invincibly, that 



The Principles of Jefuitifm. 203 

tlie worsliip of images is forbidden : in such a case our 
Lord Jesus Christ will be obliged to say to him, Depart 
from ?ne, thou cursed, etc., because thou hast worshipped 
7nine image. . . . So, neither is there any absurdity (in 
supposing) that Christ may say, Come, thou blessed, etc., 
because thou ha^t lied, believing invincibly that in such 
a case, I commanded the lie. — Ibid. Sect. 5, § 1, n. 165. 

Profanation: Francis de Lugo: {Tractatus de Sep- 
tem Eoclesim Sacramentis. Venetiis, 1652.) £y what 
Jcind of communion is this precept fulfilled? The 
question is, when the holy sacrament is voluntarily, but 
unworthily received. The law which commands an act, 
commands the substance, but not the manner of it. . . . 
Therefore the ecclesiastical law which enjoins commu- 
nion, is only compulsory to the substance of the act, 
which is sufficiently fulfilled even by a profane commur 
nion. — Lib. iv. de Eucharistid, c. 10 ,Qu£est. 3, n. 27 
et29. 

Thus he who hears 7nass with an evil intent, he who 
receives baptism in a state of sin, or the priest who ad- 
ministers it in a state of sin, all fulfil the command al- 
though by criminal acts.— JAh. iv, c. 10, Qusesti 3, n. 29. 

The divine, positive precept which enjoins the com- 
munion, ordains that it be received in a state of grace. 
This I deny. For this precept is fulfilled by an unworthy 
communion, as I have said and as Cardinal de Lugo 
teaches. — Ibid. n. 30. 

George Gobat in his Operwm Moralium, Tom. i, et 
11. Duaci 1700, 1701, says: the synod advises an inward 
reverence for Christ, but does not command it. — ^Tom. 1, 
Tr. 4, Cas. 3, n. 43 et 44. • 

Trachala: {La'vacTumConscientice Bamberga?., 1759.) 
Says : The confessor should not be very strict in exam- 



204 The Principles of Jefuitifm. 

ining orainary persons concerning the number of their 
enchantments, benedictions and vain observances, since, 
as Busenbaum observes, in those cases they sin but 
venially, in which there is a tacit compact^ as Sanchez 
and others maintain ; neither should he be very strict, 
about WiQ hind of superstition ; for there is no distinc- 
tion made between them, as Diana, etc., maintain. 

Impiety. Johx op Sat.as; In Primum Secmidm 
Divi Thomm. Barcinone, 1607; (Ed. Bibl. Archiep. 
Cant. Lamb.) An entire love of God is not due to 
him through justice, nor is even any due ; though all 
love is due through a certain kind of decency and credit, 
—Tom. i, Qugest. 3, Tr. 2, Disp. 2, § 5, n. 40. 

jA:vrES GoKDOx : Theologia Moralis JJniversa^ Lute- 
tias Parisiorum, 1634. (Ed. Bibl. Acad. Cant.) Speaking 
of the love of God says : I think the time in which this 
precept is binding, cannot easily he defined. It is a sure 
thing indeed, that it is binding, but at what precise time, 
is sufficiently uncertain. — ^Tom. ii. Lib. vi, Qusest. 13, c. 
4, art 2, n. 8. 

Peter Alagoxa : S. Thorace Aquinatis Summce 
TheologioB Compendium. (Lutetiae Parisiorum, 1620.) 
By command of God it is lawful to hill an innocent 
person., to steal, or to cemmit fornication ; because he is 
the Lord of life and death and all things : and it is due 
to him thus to fulfil his command. — Ex, prima Secundce, 
QucBst. 94. 

Imago : JPrimi Soeculi Societatis Jesu. Antverpije, 
1640, says : The Society of Jesus is not a human inven- 
tion, hut it proceeded from him whose name it hears. 
For Jesus himself described that rule of life which the 
Society follows, first by his example, and aft&ncards by 
his words. — Lib. i, c. 3, p. 64. 



The Principles of Jefuitifm. 205 

The Society extends over the whole world, and fulfils 
the prophecy of Malachi. {A print representing the two 
continents^ at the foot of which is written) " From the 
rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, my 
name shall be great among the Gentiles : and in every 
place shall incense be offered unto my name, and a pure 
offering. — Malachi i. Ibid^ p. 318. 

ANTHOisrY EscoBAE I JJniversoB Theologies Moralis re- 
ceptiores alsque lite sententice^ nee non prohlematicce dis- 
quisitiones, Tomus i. Lugduni, 1652. (Ed. Bibl. Acad. 
Cant.) A man of a religious order, who for a short time 
lays aside his habit for a sinful purpose, is free from hein- 
ous sin, and does not incur the penalty of excommunica- 
tion.— Lib. iii. Sect. 2, Probl. 44, n. 212. 

I am of this opinion, and I extend that short time to 
the sj^ace of one hour. A man of a religious ordpr, 
therefore, who puts off his habit, for this assigned space 
of time, does not incur the penalty of excommunication, 
although he should lay it aside, not only for a sinful 
purpose, as to commit fornication, or to thieve, hut even 
that he may enter unknown into a brothel. — Probl. 44, 
n. 213. 

The sins of blasphemy, perjury, and unfaithfulness, 
committed in a state of di'unhenness, either are not or 
are to be imputed to sin. 

I think it sufficient to follow the former opinion which 
is probable . . to utter such things in time of drunJcen- 
ness, is not sin, but the effect of sin. — Lib. iv. Sect. 2, 
Probl. 30, n. 246. 

Amadeus Guimenius: Opuscidum, Tractatus Fidei. 
Lugduni, 1664. ( . . . 1661, Ed. Coll. Sion.) An ex- 
plicit belief in the mysteries of the Incarnation and the 
Trinity, is not a necessary means of salvation. This is 



2o6 The Principles of Jefuitifm. 

the opinion of Sotns (and many others) and of John 
Lacroix. Whence it is evident that he thinks with his 
associates that a declared belief in the mysteries of the 
Incarnation and Trinity are not necessary. And in- 
deed justly, for otherwise as Serra has well observed with 
Laymann, salvation would be impossible to those who 
were bora deaf, when once they were corrupted by 
mortal sin ; since the mysteries of the Incarnation and 
Trinity could not be explicably propounded to them. — 
Prop. 1, n. 2, 3 et 4. 

Jesuits of Caen : Thesis propaquata in regio, Soc. Jes. 
Collegio, Celelenimae Academise Codomensis, die Veneris, 
30 Jan. 1693. Cadomi, 1693. Neither is an avowed 
belief in Jesus Christ, in the Trinity, in all the Articles 
of Faith, and in the Decalogue, necessary to Christians. — 
Position 8. 

'John Maein : Theologioe Speculativm et Moralis^ Tomus 
ii. Yenetiis, 1720. God can speak equivocally for a 
righteous purpose, and a righteous purpose is often found. 
—Tom. ii, Tr. 14, de Fide Divina, Disp. 5, Sect. 1, n. 9. 

Le Moyne : I*ropositions^ extraites des cashiers dictes 
au College d^Auxe^ie, par le Frere Le Moyne, Jesuite,, et 
censurees dans V Ordonnance et Instruction Pastorale de 
M. VJEveque d'> Auxene du 18 Septembre^ 1725. A Chris- 
tian acting deliberately may act precisely as a man, and 
lay aside the character of the Christian man, i7i actions 
which are not properly those of a Christian. — Le Moyne, 
Lib. ii, de Act. Hum, c. 1, Sect 2, Art. 1, Obj. 1. 

Francis Odin: Epistola Beati Paidi Apostoli ad 
JRomanos explicata per Franciscwn Odinmn, Societas 
Jesu Presbyterum. Parisiis, 1743. If God did not will 
that the Jews should come to the faith^ and through 
faith unto salvation^ he indeed played his mimic part 



The Principles of Jefuitifm. 207 

skilfully and splendidly. — Ep. ad Mom. C.x. F". 21, in 
notis. 

BusEXBAUM and Lacroix: Theologia Moralis^ nunc 
pluribus partibus aucta d. R. P. Claudio Lacroix, Socie- 
tatis Jesu. Coloniae, 1757. Coloniae Aggrippinae, 1733. 
(Ed. Mus. Brit.) When and how often is the love of God 
binding, remains uncertain, . . . — Tom. i, Pars, ii, Lib. ii, 
de Fide, Tr. 3, c. 1, Qnaest. 37, § 2, n. Sotus, Angelus and 
others say, that it is binding on every festival ... on 
the other hand, Castro Palao and others commonly deny 
it, and Avith greater probability. — Ibid, § 3, n. 133. 

Sotus and Valentia say it is binding when an adult is 
about to be baptized. But it is objected, that it is not 
necessary on account of baptism, because for that sacra- 
ment attrition* is sufficient. — Ibid, § 4, n. 134. 

Idolatry. Gabriel Yasquez : De Cultu Adorationis. 
Libri Tres. Moguntise, 1614. . . . Without regarding 
in any way the dignity of the thing created, to direct our 
thoughts to God alone^ while we give to the creature the 
sign and mark of submission by a kiss or prostration., 
is neither vain nor superstitious, but an act of the purest 
religio?i. — Ibid. 

Perjury, Lying, False- Witness. Thomas Sanchez : 
Opus Morale in Praecepta Decalogi. Venetiis, 1014. 
(Antverpiae, 1624. Ed. Coll. Sion.) He who may con- 
ceal goods which he requires for the sustenance of life, 
lest they should be seized by his creditors and himself 
reduced to beggary, may swear, when he is examined by 
the judge, that he has no concealed goods. A?id they 
who are p)rivy to it may swear the same thing. — In Prae- 
cept. Decal. Pars, ii. Lib. iii, c. 6, n. 31. 

*^ Attrition, a regret for having offended God, induced by a fear of 
his punishment. 



2o8 The Principles of Jefuitifm. 

When a man has truly or feignedly promised marriage, 
is, for some reason, free from the obligation of fulfilling 
his promise, he may sicear^ when required, that he did 
not promise understanding. . . . Because, by adopting 
a probable opinion, he may think he is not hound^ with a 
safe co7iscience. — In Precept. Decal. Pars ii, Lib. iii, c. 6, 
n. 32. 

A man is urged to take a woman for his wife when he 
is not compelled to marry, may swear that he will take 
her, by understanding within himself. If I am obliged^ 
or if she should afterwards please me ! — Ibid, n. 39. 

He would not sin mortally who, influenced by his rev- 
erence for an oath, and from scruple, should feign to 
swear ^ so that the bystanders and the notary might think 
that he did swear. — Ibid, c. 7, n. 2. 

Leoxakd Lessius : De Justim et Jure. Parisiis, 1628. 
Antverpige, 1621. (Ed. Coll. Sion.) The icitness and 
the accused are not obliged to answer according to the 
meaning of the judge. — Lib. ii, c. 31, dub. 3, n. 14. 

YixcEXT FiLLixcius I Moralium Quoestionum de Chris- 
tianis officiis et casibus conscientiae, Tomus ii. Lugduni, 
1633. Ursellis, 1625. (Ed. Coll. Sion.) With what pre- 
caution is equivocation to be used ? — When we begin for 
instance, to say — '■^ I sicear,''^ we must insert in a subdued 
tone the mental restriction " that to-day, ^^ and then con- 
tinue aloud, " that I have ?iot eaten such a thing,^^ or "7 
swear,'''' then insert, '■'• I say,''^ then conclude in the same 
loud voice, '■'' that I have not done this or that thing :^* 
for thus the whole speech is very true. — Tom. ii, Tr. 25, 
c. 11. de Juramento, n. 328. 

JoHX Baptist Taberxa : SjTiopsis Theologiae Practicae. 
Colonise, 1736. Qu. 5, Is a judge bound to restore 
the bribe which he has received for passing sentence ? 



The Principles of Jefuitifm. 209 

, . . If he has received the bribe for passing an unjust 
sentence^ it is probable he tnay keep it. ... This opinion 
is maintained and defended by fifty-eight doctors. — 
Pars, ii, Tr. 2, c. 31. 

BusENBAUM and Lackoix : Theologia Moralis^ nunc 
pluribus partibus aucta a. R. P. Claudio Lacroix, So- 
cietatis Jesu, Coloniae, 1757. (Colonise Aggrippinse, 
1733. Ed. Mas. Brit.) "is a judge bound to restore the 
bribe which he has received for passing judgment? 
Answer. If he has received it for a just sentence he is 
bound to restore it, because it was otherwise due to the 
pleader, and he has therefore received no benefit for his 
money. If the judge has received it for an unjust sen- 
tence, he is not bound to make restitution., as Bannez, 
Sanchez, etc., teach. . . . Noio, the exposure to such dan- 
ger in the service of another may be valued at a price. — 
Tom. iv. Lib. iv, de Judice, c. 3, Dub. 2, Art. 4, Qusest. 
268, n. 1498. 

Theft and Secket Compen'satiox. Emmanuel Sa: 
Aphorismi Confessariorum. Colonise, 1590. (Coloniae, 
1615. Ed. Coll. Sion.) It is not a mortal sin to take 
secretly. . . . And it is not necessary to restore. 

Valerius RsGrnALD : Praxis Fori Psenientialis. Lug- 
duni, 1620. (Tom. i. Colonise, 1622. Ed. Coll. Sion.) 
Servants may not take the property of their masters 
secretly by way of compensation, loiless it should in re- 
ality appear to be the case in the opinion of an experi- 
enced man. — Tom. i. Praxis, Lib. x, c. 18, n. 258. 

Servants are excused both from sin and restitution if 
they only take in equitable compensation. . . . Among 
the conditions of a lawful compensation this is the 
chief, that the debt cannot be obtained by any other 
means. — Lib. xxv, c. 44, n. 555. (Tom. ii. Moguntise, 
1622. Ed. Coll. Sion.) 



210 The Principles of Jefuitifm. 

Francis Amicus: Cursus Thoelogica. Tomus v. 
Duaci, 1642. He who has stolen to a considerable 
amount, is not obliged under pain of mortal sin to re- 
store the whole. — ^Disp. 38, Sect. 4, n. 47. 

Thomas Tambueix: Explicatio Decalogi. Lugduni, 
1659. (Lugduni, 1665. Ed. Coll. Sion.) That a num- 
ber of small thefts may constitute a mortal sin, it is neces- 
sary they should be committed continuously. ... If 
four years elapse between the commission of one theft 
and another, it is accounted by Mehel to be a considerable 
interval . . . one year by Sanchez . . . six months by 
some, and fifteen days by others.-^— Lib. viii, Tr. 2, c. 3, 
§l,n.3. 

Stephen Banny : Sommes des Peches qui se commet- 
tent en tous JEtats. Rouen, 1653. . . . These trifling 
thefts, committed on diflferent days, and at different op- 
portunities, against one man or against many, however 
great may he the amount which has heen stolen^ will never 
become mortal sins. — Des Larcius, c. 10. 

Homicide. Heney Henriquez: Summoe TheologicB 
Moralis, Tomus i. Venitiis, 1600. (Ed. Coll. Sion.) 
If an adulterer, even though he should be an ecclesiastic, 
reflecting upon the danger, has entered the house of an 
adulteress, and being attacked by her husband, kills his 
aggressor in the necessary defence of his life, or his limbs, 
he is not considered irregular. — Lib. xiv, de Irregulari- 
tate, c. 10, § 3. 

Valerius Reginald: Praxis Fori Poenitentialis. 
Lugduni, 1620. (Tom. ii. Moguntiae, 1622. Ed. Coll. 
Sion.) If you are preparing to give false evidence against 
me, . . . it is laiofid for me to kill you^ since I shcndd 
otherwise be hilled myself. — Tom. ii. Lib. xxi, c. 5, n. 57. 

Stephen Fagundez: In Prcecepta Decalogi. Lug- 



The Principles of Jefuitifm. 21 j 

duni, 1640. (Ed. Coll. Sion.) Christian and Catholic 
sons may accuse their fathers of the crime of heresy if 
they wish to turn them from the faith, although they may 
know that their parents will be burned with fire and put 
to deaths as Tolet teaches. . . . And not only may they 
refuse them food if they attempt to turn them from the 
Catholic faith, hut they may also justly kill them, ob- 
serving the moderation of a blameless defence, if they 
forcibly compel their children to abandon the faith. — 
Tom. i. Lib. iv, c. 2, n. 7, 8. 

If a judge had been unjust, and had proceeded (in 
trial) without adhering to the course of the law, then 
certainly, the accused might defend himself, by assault- 
ing and even by killing the judge. — Tom. ii. Lib. viii, c. 
32, n. 5. 

Francis Amicus : Cursus Theologici. Tomus v. Duaci, 
1642. It will be lawful for an ecclesiastic, or one of a 
religious order, to kill a calumniator who threatens to 
spread atrocious accusations against his religion. — Ibid, 
n. 118. 

AiRATJLT : Propositions dictees au College de Clermont 
a Paris, par l!^. Airault, de la Societe de ceux qui se disent 
Jesuites. Collation fait a la requete de I'Universite de 
Paris, 1643, 1644. Paris, 1720. If you endeavor to ruin 
tny reputation. . . . And I cannot by any means avert 
this injury of character, unless I kill you secretly, may I 
lawfully do it ? Bannez asserts that I may. Still the 
calumniator should first be warned that he desist from 
his slander ; and if he will not, he should be killed, not 
openly, on account of the scandal, but secretly. — Cens. 
pp. 319, 320. 

Parricide and Homicide. Anthony Escobar : TJieo- 
logia Moralis. Tom. iv. Lugduni, 1663. A son either 



212 The Principles of Jefuitifm. 

is obliged or is not obliged to support an infidel father 
who is in extreme necessity^ if he endeavors to turn him 
from the faith .... I conceive the latter opinion must 
be certainly maintained. They might also refuse them 
sustenance, although they should perish for want of food. 
Fagundez adds, that they might even kill them with the 
moderation of a blameless defence. — (Tom. iv, Lib. xxxi, 
Sect. 2, de Precept^ iv. Probl. 5, n. 55, 56, 57.) 

Since by the ci\il law a father and a husband is per- 
mitted to kill his daughter or his wife taken in adultery, 
the death either may, or may not, be intrusted to others 
with impunity. The husband and father may certainly 
intrust it to their children or their servants, and also to 
strangers. — (Tom iv. Lib. xxxii, sec. 2, de Prec. v, Probl. 
35, n. 169, 170, 171.) 

Geoege Gobat : Operum Moralium. (Tom. ii, Duaci, 
1700.) Father Fagundez, in Decal. lib. ix, thus expres- 
ses himself: It is lawful for a son to rejoice at the murder 
of his parent committed by himself in a state of drunk- 
enness 071 account of the great riches thence acquired by 
inheritance ! 

It is sometimes lawful to desire a blameless drunken- 
ness, by which the greater benefit would be produced. — 
(See Caramnel, in Theologia Regulari.) — Ibid. n. 57. 

Suicide x^td Ho:^ncn)E. Paul Layman : Theol. Mo- 
ralis, Wircelurgi, 1748. (Lutetise Parisiorum, 1627. Ed. 
Coll. Sion.) Although the doctrine of St. Augustine may 
be true, that it is not in any case lawful for a man to kill 
himself, unless God commanded it ; yet it is plainly evi- 
dent that learned men may not fail to perceive it. — (Lib. 
iii, sec. 5, Tr. 3, Pars. 3, c. 1, n. 3.) 

High Treason axd Regicide. Emmanuel Sa : Apho- 
rismi Confessarioru??i. Colonige, 1590. (Coloniae, 1615. 



The Principles of Jefuitifm. 213 

Ed. Coll. Sion.) The rebellion of an ecclesiastic is not a 
crime of high treason, because he is not subject to the 
king. Aphorismi, verbo Clericus. Ed. Colonise, 1590. 

When sentence has been passed, every man may become 
executor of it ; and he may be deposed by the people, 
even although perpetual obedience were sworn to him, 
if, after the admonition given, he will not be corrected. — 
(Aphorismi, verbo Tyrannus, n. 2. Coloniae, 1615. Ed. 
Coll. Sion.) 

John Beidgewater : Concertatio Ecclesioe Catho- 
liccB in Anglia Calvino Papistas, Augustos Treviorum, 
1494. The people are not only permitted, but they are 
required, and their duty demands, that at the mandate 
of the vicar of Christ, who is the sovereign pastor over 
all the nations of the earth, the faith which they had 
previously made with such princes, should not be kept. — 
(Ibid, fol. 348.) 

Robert Bellarmine : Desputationes de Controversiis 
Christianoe Fldei^ adversiis hiijus temporis Hoerticos^ 
tom 1. Ingolstadii, 1596. (Paris, 1608. Ed. Mus. Brit.) 
It is therefore for the pontiff to determine whether the 
king must be deposed, or not. — (Ibid, c. vii, p. 891.) 

Francis Tolet. (Commentarii et Annotationes in 
Epist. B. Pauli Apost. ad Pomanos. Lugduni, 1603. 
Moguntise, 1603. Ed. Coll. Sion.) All men should be 
subject to the higher powers, but not to the secular 
powers. — (A7inot. 2, in cap. xiii. JEspad. Pom.) 

John Mariana : — De Pege et Pegis Institutiotie. 
Lihri Tres. Moguntiae, 1605. ( . . . . 1640. Ed. Mus. 
Brit.) I shall never consider that man to have done 
wrong, who, favoring the public wishes, should attempt 
to kill him, who may deservedly be considered as a ty- 
rant. To put them to death, is not only lawful, but a 



214 The Principles of Jefuitifm. 

laudable and a glorious action. — (Lib. 1, c. 6, p. 61.) 
The life of a tyrant is evidently wretched which, held upon 
the tenure, that he who should kill him would be highlj- 
esteemed, both in favor and in praise. It is a gloriou^ 
thing to exterminate the pestilent and mischievous race 
from the community of men. For putrescent members 
are cut off, lest they infect the rest of the body. So 
should the cruelty of that beast, in the form of man, be 
removed from the state as from a body, and be severed 
from it with the sword. — (Lib. 1, c. 7, p. 64.) There is 
a doubt whether it is lawful to kill a tyrant and public 
enemy (the same decision will apply to both) with poison 
and deadly herbs . . . for we hnow that it is frequently 
done .... In my opinion, deleterious drugs should not 
be given to an enemy, neither should poison be mixed 
with his food or in his cup, with a view to cause his 
death .... Yet, it icill indeed he lawful to use this 
method in the case in question ; not to constrain the per- 
son who is to he kiUed^ to take of himself the poiso?i 
which, inwardly received, woidd deprive him, of life, hut 
to cause it to he outwardly applied hy another, without 
his intervention : as, when there is so much strength in 
the poison, that if spread upon a seat or on the clothes it 
would be sufficiently powerful to cause death ! — (Lib. 1, 
c. 7, p. 67.) It was thus that Squire attempted the life 
of Queen Elizabeth, at the instigation of the Jesuit Wal- 
pole. — (Pasquier, Catechisme des Jesuits, 1677, p. 350, 
etc. ; and Rapin, fol. Lond. 1733, vol. ii, book xvii, p. 
148.) 

John Ozorius : Concio7ium Joannis Ozorii Societas 
Jesii, de Sanctis. — (Tom. iii. Parisiis, 1607.) The power 
of the keys is delivered to Peter and his successors; in 
which power many things are included. First, to rule 



The Principles of Jefuitifm. 215 

the universal church and to appoint bishops in different 
places ; to preach the gospel throughout the world ; to 
give, to resume, or to moderate all power ; to establish 
kings, and to deprive them of their kingdoms again, if 
they abandon or oppose the preaching of the faith. — 
(Tom. iii. Cone, in Cathedra S. Petri, p. 64.) 

"When it is expedient for the spiritual welfare, the pope 
can remove rulers, kings, and emperors, and can take 
away their dominions from the wicked and disobedient 
kings who impede the promulgation of the gospel. — (Tom. 
iii. Cone, in Cath. S. Petri, p. 70.) 

Ai!a)REW ExDJEMON JoHNi ApologiapTo mofi JSenHco 
Garneto. Colonise, Agrip, 1610. The Jesuit, Hammond, is 
accused of having absolved all the conspirators in the house 
of Robert Winter, on Thursday after the conspiracy (the 
powder plot), when the rebels had already taken arms in 
their defence. — Apol. c. x., art. 2, p. 272. Since he does 
not sin who thinks with probability that what he does is 
lawful, the confessor has not any just cause for refusing 
absolution. ... It is very certain, moreover, that the 
conspirators who would otherwise have had a clear con- 
science, had for a long time meditated upon their pur- 
pose ; they had weighed every reason by which they 
might persuade themselves, that there was nothing in 
their design contrary to the commandments of God, and 
as \h.Qj possessed the ability they found many arguments 
by which to justify themselves in their design. Be it, 
then, as Coke would have it, that Hammond did absolve 
the conspirators after they had taken up arms in their 
defence. I answer that Hammond believed those reasons 
to be probable, which they produced in favor of the 
design, and he could not in justice refuse tliem absolu- 
tion." . . . What fault will Coke find with this ?— (Cap. 
X., art. 2, p. 274, et seq.) 



2i6 The Principles of Jefuitifm. 

As to what the Earl of Salisbury alleged, that when 
Garnet prayed for the failure of the plot, he added this 
reservation, " unless it should greatly promote the cause 
of the Catholics:'' I do not see what it proves. He 
might abhor the cruelty of the crime ; and still, because 
he was ignorant whether by these means God would 
choose to consult the good of England, might use that 
reservation. When Christ, in the agony of his bloody 
sweat, prayed that the cup might pass from him, he did 
not dissemble, although he chose that his Father's will 
should be done in preference to his own. Why then 
should not Garnet, although he might have abhored such 
a carnage in the State, conceive himself bound to endure 
it, if it were ultimately to prove extremely beneficial to 
the Church ?— (Cap. xii., art. 1, p. 319.) 

James Keller : Tyrannicidium, sea Scitum Catho- 
licorum de Tyranni internecione. Monachii, 1611. (Ed. 
Mus. Brit.) " The Jesuits, you will say, should have 
remembered the apostolic rule, not to do evil that good 
may come. What do I hear of the word of God ? 
Where does it entirely forbid killing ? In the fifth com- 
mandment, you will say. Well ! but what if I should 
tell you on the other hand, that the fifth commandment 
is encompassed with formidable difficulties, that no one 
can keep it. What would become of him who should 
violate it ? You would not inflict any punishment upon 
him ? If you did you would become a tyrant, and would 
punish a fault which an unfortunate could not avoid." 
— Tyrannicidiwn, Quoest. 2, p. 20, et seq. 

Benedict Justinian : In omnes B. Pauli Epistola^ 
JEyxplanationum^ Tomus I. Lugduni, 1612. " Except 
the ecclesiastical power, there is no other power among 
men which has received its strength and authority direct 



The Principles of Jefuitifm. 217 

from God, and which can affirm with truth, that it may 
lawfully act with diviue authority." — In JEpisL ad Rom.^ 
c. xiii., V. 2. 

JoHx LoRiN : Oommenta/riorum in Librum JPsalmor- 
um, Tomus iii. Lugduni, 1617. (Colonise Aggripinae, 
1619. Ed. Coll. Sion.) " Since Peter had more zeal than 
the rest of the Apostles. . . . when he struck the servant 
of the high priest, it is for this reason, among others, we 
may conceive that the sovereign priesthood was com- 
mitted to him by Christ, and we may affirm that Ignatius 
was chosen to be the general of our order, because he 
would kill a Moor that had blasphemed." — In Psalm 105, 
V. 31. 

Leonaed Lessius : De Justitia et Jure, eceterisque 
virtutibus cardinalibus. Parisiis, 1628, (Antverpiae, 
1621. Ed. Coll. Sion.) "The sovereign Pontiff, as 
the vicar of Christ and the superior of Christendom, can 
direetly annul and remit every obligation contracted 
with another upon the faith of an oath, when there is 
sufficient cause for it ; which remission is as valid as if 
the person, in whose behalf the oath had been sworn, 
himself had made it. — Lib. ii., de Jurem, c. 42, dub. 12, 
n. 64. 

JoHisr De Dicastille : De Justitia et Jure, eceterisque 
virtutibus cardinalibus. Antverpiae, 1641. " The clergy 
are exempt from lay power, even in temporal things, is 
thus proved, 'No man is directly subject unto one, who 
has not any jurisdiction over him. . . . but the lay prince 
(or president) has no jurisdiction over the clergy or 
ecclesiastics. . . . But a secular prince cannot punish the 
clergy, therefore ecclesiastics are not subject to lay 
princes." — Lib. ii., Tr. 1, Disp. 4, Dub. 8, de Judicio 
prout Actus Justitice, n. 126. 
10 



2i8 The Principles of Jefuitifm. 

" The clergy are exempt from lay power, not only by 
human^ civil and cajionical law, but also by divine law." 
—Ibid, n. 128. 

James Gketser : Opera Omnia. Tom. xi. Defensio 
Societatis Jesu. " It is a question in the schools, whether 
it is la^\'ful to hill an innocent person ? "WTiat harm, I 
pray you, is there in these questions ? Or what do they 
contain contrary to the public peace and tranquDity? 
Certainly if the question, ' Is it not lawful to kill a tyrant ?' 
be seditious, the question, * Is it lawful to kUl an innocent 
person ?' will be much more seditious. The question is 
neither an affirmation nor negative, but a simple inquii-y. 
And to put a question has nothing to do with sedition. 
The preacher adds that the Jesuits, in this question, in- 
cline to the affirmative rather than the negative, as their 
writings will sufficiently show. We do not only incline^ 
but most willingly adhere to the part which has been 
chosen by St. Thomas and others, who reply to the 
question by distinction. In conformity with their 
doctrine, a Jesuit of great celebrity (Gregory of Yalentia, 
Tom. iii., Disp. 5, Qu. 8,) has thus written. . . (A prince) 
is either a tyrant, not because he has unjustly usurped 
his throne, but because he makes a bad use of his other- 
wise legitimate authority, in the administration of the 
government ; or else he is a tyrant through the power 
which he has forcibly usurped. ... If he were a tyrant 
of the latter kind, any man might kill him." 

Lest you should be anxious about the death of John 
Guiqard^ know that it must be ascribed to the times, and 
not to his guilt. You will never be hanged if you con- 
tinue as innocent as he was. — (Tom. xi. Append, ad Apol. 
p. 317, A.) 

We are not so timid ^ndi faint-hearted that we fear to 



The Principles of Jefuitifm. 219 

affinn openly^ that the Roman pontiff can, if occasion re- 
quire, absolve Catholic subjects from their oath^ of alle- 
giaiice. . . . And we add, moreover, that if it be done 
discreetly and circumspectly by the pontiff, it is a meri- 
torious work. — Yespeitilio Haereticus, p. 882. 

jMaeiaxa: De Regis Instructione, Lib. i, cap. 6, 
argues : It is chiefly concerning tyrants of the latter that 
there is much discussion. . . . Say then, scribbler. Is every 
prince who refuses to obey the JRomcm pontiff a tyrant of 
the latter kind ? Do the Jesuits determine this ? This 
is what Marian requires that a tyrant of the latter kind 
may be killed by a private person ; or that at least, that 
if such a judicial sentence cannot be pronounced, the 
common voice of the people may, with the consent and 
approval of learned men, proclaim this or that prince to 
be a tyrant.— Ibid, p. 883. B. C. D. E. 

The more common opinion is, that it is never lawful 
to attack a prince, who has become a tyrant of the second 
kind, before a public and judicial sentence has been pro- 
nounced, by which he is solemnly declared an enemy of 
the State, and therefore, before he can be deprived of the 
power which he possessed by those who have the right 
of taking it away. — Ibid. 

Ja:me5 Gretser : Opera Omnia. Tom. vii. Defensio 
Romanonun Pontifieum. Ratisbonse, 1T3G. The first 
(proposition) is, that secular princes have no power over 
the clergy who dwelling in their dominions, either by 
divine or human right. 

We deny that a7iy example can be produced from the 
Old Testament which proves that the Levites were sub- 
jects to laymen. — Lib. ii, Consid. 3, p. 467. D. 

The clergy ought indeed to be subject to higher 
powers ; but to their own and to those which are suited 



220 The Principles of Jefuitifm. 

to their state, that is, to the ecclesiastical poTrers. — 
Ibid. H. 

The clergy should also be obedient to the laws of 
princes, which they enact Tvdth the assent and concurrence 
of the ecclesiastical 'magistrate. — Ibid, p. 468, C and D. 

But the clergy do not belong to the king's jurisdiction. 

It will not be found in any Catholic author that a pope 
can be deposed by an emperor ; but emperors may be 
deposed by the pope, will be found in many. — Ibid, p. 
484, B. 

Paul Latma^-x: Theologia Moralis. "Wirceburgi 
1748. (LutetifE Parisiorum, 1627. Ed. Coll. Sion.) As 
the body is subordinate to the soul . . . and things tem- 
poral to things eternal, so should the civil power be sub- 
ordinate to the ecclesiastical power. . . . Whence Boni- 
face Yin. concludes, in Extrav. Unani Sanctam. . . . 
It is necessary that the sword should be subject to the 
sword, and the temporal authority to the spiritual power ; 
since the apostle says, "There is no power but of God:" 
yet the things which proceed from God must be regu- 
lated with order unless the sword were subject to the 
sword, and were reduced as an inferior to the highest 
power. — Lib. i, Tr. 4, c. 6, de Legibus, n. 2. 

The clergy do not incur the penalty awarded by civil 
laws, neither can they be punished by the civil magis- 
trate. . . . — Ibid, n. 4. Corollary. — The civil laws 
which invalidate a will, or which render persons incapa- 
ble of making a contract or a will, in punishment of some 
crime committed by themselves or their ancestors, do not 
extend to the clergy, as Navarre and Saurez remark 
after the common opinion. The reason is evident. For 
such a law is penal, and comprises a coactive force, ichich 
cannot extend to ecclesiastical persons. — Ibid, n. 5. 



The Principles of Jefuirifm. 221 

That the clergy are not directly and specially bound by 
the civil laws, either by virtue of the laws themselves or 
by the civil legislative power ; for they are entirely ex- 
empt from such authority by every kind of right. This 
is the opinion of Azor and Saurez, of Bellarmine in his 
apology against the king of England and of Adam Sau- 
ner. — Ibid, n. 6. 

BusENBAUM and Lacroix: Theologia 3f oralis^ nunc 
pluribus partihus aucta d H. P. Claudio Lacroix^ Socie- 
tas Jesu. Coloniae, 1757. (Coloniae AgrippiniB, 1733. 
Ed. Mus. Brit.) To strike one of the clergy, or to bring; 
him before a secular tribunal, is personal profanation. — 
Tom. ii, Lib. iii, Pars. 1, Tr. 1, c. 2, Bub. n. 48, Resol. 1. 

A man who has been banished by the pope, may be 
killed anywhere, as Fillincius, Escobar and Diana teach ; 
because the pope has at least an indirect jurisdiction over 
the whole world, even in temporal things^ as far as may 
be necessary for the administration of spiritual affairs, as 
all the Catholics maintain, and as Saurez proves against 
the king of England. — Tom. ii. Lib. iii, Pars. 1, Tr. 4, c. 
1, Dub. 2, Qu^st. 178, § 4, n. 795. 

Gregory of Valentia : Commentario7'U7n Theologi- 
coram. Tomus iii. Lutetiae Parisiorum, 1609. (Lut. 
Par., 1660. Ed. Coll. Sion.) Without respect of per- 
son, may a judge, in order to favor a friend, decide ac- 
cording to any probable opinion, while the question of 
right remains undecided? . . . For the sake of his 
friend, he may lawfully pronounce sentence according to 
the opinion which is more favorable to the interest of that 
friend. He may, moreover, with the intent to serve his 
friend, at one time judge according to one opinion, and 
at another time according to a contrary opinion, provided 
only that no scandal results from the decision. 



222 The Principles of Jefuitifm. 

Can an adulterer^ who is questioned by a woman'' s 
husband, deny that he committed adultery with his wife ? 
I answer : he can, by equivocally asserting that he did 
not break the matrimonial tie, which, in fact, is true. 
And if he has sacramentally confessed the adultery, he 
can answer, I am innocent of this crime, because by con- 
fession it has been pardoned and removed. — Moral The- 
ology of Ligouri, Lib. iii, n. 152. This work was " more 
than twenty times examined by the fathers and declared 
to be sound and according to God." — /Sana ac Secundum, 
Deum. 

Can the human mind conceive such blasphemy, such 
deep stained pollution, as the Romish authors have declar- 
ed their principles to be as set forth by their owyi writers f 
Read them, people of the United States. Read how the 
enemies of your country train the papal army to enchain 
your posterity, if not yourselves. Here is their revela- 
tion of the great conspiracy against human ireedom 
cloaked under the garb of religion. 

What should be thought of the patriot who remained 
peaceable and tranquil if the British or French army held 
any portion of our people or territory in subjection? 
Yet, a foreign foe at our doors, traming papal millions in 
these principles, is not only allowed to live, but permit- 
ted to reign among us ! 

Note.— The original latin of this chapter is embodied in tho manu- 
script, but omitted in print to reduce the size of the volume. These 
authorities are for the first time pubhshed in an EngUsh translation. 



CHAPTER VII. 

SECKET IXSTRUCTIOXS TO THE JESUITS. 

How these Instructions were found — The Jesuits' denial — Their unquestioned Au- 
thenticity — Real Estate — Marriage Arrangements — Women, how won — The 
nearest Relative sacrificed at their beck — The way to get Public Offices— Decoy- 
ing Widows— Daughters— Sons — The danger of Families who are under Romish 
Influence— Borrowing Money to defraud — How to secure Wealth and Talent — 
Modern Jesuits— What they do — Who associates with them — Politicians — 
Teachers — Preachers — Protestant— Holy Inquisition — The Rules and Maxims 
of Popery— The Oath to the Pope. 

This code of Jesuit-laws is not to be made known to 
every class of Jesuits. They have bold, daring, infamous 
men, ready for desperate deeds, by steel, bullets or pois- 
oned chalice. These know what others do not. They 
have disguised agents in mask. These know something 
peculiar to their work. They have crafty, shrewd, cour- 
teous, polished men, who associated with the distinguished 
and powerful ; they have instructions, unknown to others. 
They have decent, serious, moral men, sent out to en- 
snare the moral, serious and unsuspecting. These teach 
that their vow is one of poverty, that they have nothing 
to do with politics or wealth ; their sole object being to 
put down heretics ! Hence, all classes swear, that they 
know no " secret instructions." 

When these rules wore discovered, however, every one 
saw and recognized the Jesnit-p\atfonn in their nt: oc'o;is 
code and conspiracies against the rights of m:in and the 
cause of God. 

In 1624, the University of Paris charged the Jesuits 
with being governed by "secret instructions." In the 

(223) 



224 Secret InftruQions to the Jefuits. 

History of the Jesuits, vol. i., p. 326, we find a Roman 
Catholic bishop of Angelopolis asserts the same thing. 
A work is in the British Museum, called " Formulae 
Provisionum diversarum : a G. Passarello, summo studio 
in unum collectce," printed at Venice in 1596. There is 
a copy of these " Secret Instructions'''' in manuscript, and 
at the end of it is this significant mandate : " Let them 
be denied to be the rules of the Society of Jesus, if ever, 
they shall be imputed to us." When the Duke of Bruns- 
wick took Paderborn, Westphalia, he seized the Jesuit 
college, and gave their library and papers to the capu- 
chins ; and these monks being no friends of the Jesuits, 
brought them before the public. At the end of this 
copy,^the same characteristic injunction is found": "If 
these rules fall into the hands of strangers, they must be 
positively denied to be the rules of the society."* 

Mr. McGavin, in the Glasgow Protestant, (vol. ii,) says : 
" John Schipper, a bookseller of Amsterdam, bought a 
copy of the The Secret Instructions^ and afterwards re- 
printed it. The Jesuits hearing he had bought the book, 
demanded it back from him, but he had sent it to Hol- 
land. The edition Schipper printed was then purchased 
by the reverend fathers, some few copies excepted. From 
one of these a reprint was made, and the account pre- 
fixed, which is said to be taken from two Koman Catholic 
men " of credit." In 1669, the learned Dr. Compton, 
Bishop of London, published in England a translation of 
the Secret Instructions. His arguments on their author- 
ity, and his character as a scholar and a divine, are a suf- 
ficient guarantee that his name and influence would never 
have been given to sustain a work of dubious authority, or 
one calculated to mislead the public. The edition before 
* Seo London Christian Observer, voL xiv., p. 169. 



Secret Inftmdions to the Jefults. 225" 

us was publislied in London, 1723, and dedicated to Sir 
Robert Walpole, who was prime minister of George I. 
and George II. 

In chapter I, section v, they are told, in order to give 
a colorable gloss to their poverty, the purchases of real 
estate, adjacent to the place where the college is founded, 
must be assigned by the provincial to distant colleges, 
that the government of the country can never attain a 
certain knowledge of the amoimt of their revenues. 
Let no place but opulent cities be pitched upon for 
founding colleges. Let the greatest sums be always 

extorted from widows In every province let 

none but the principal be fully apprised of the real 
value of our revenues, and let what is contained in the 
treasury of Rome be always kept an inviolable secret. 
Let it be publicly and privately demonstrated, that the 
only end of their coming there was for the instruction 
of youth, and the good and welfare of the inhabitants ; 
that they do all this without the least reward, and do not 
encumber the people like other religious societies." 

Chapter II treats of the way to become familiar with 
the great in any country. They are told to manage to 
get the ear of those in authority, and then secure their 
hearts, by which way all persons will become our crea- 
tures, and none will dare to give the society disquiet. 
The priests are to wink at the vices of the powerful, and 
to encourage their inclinations, whatever they may be ; 
but this is to be done with generals always avoiding par- 
ticulars." Section 4. " It will further us in gaining favor, 
if our members artfully worm themselves by the interests 
of others into honorable embassies to foreign courts in 
their behalf, but especially to the pope and great mon- 
archs. Further, great care must be taken to curry favor 
10* 



226 Secret Infkrudions to the Jefuits. 

with the minions of the great, who, by small presents and 
many offices of piety, we may find means to get faithful 
intelligence of the master's inclinations and humors, and 
thus be better qualified to chime their tempers." 

" How much the society has benefited from their en- 
gagements in marriage treaties, the houses of Austria, 
Bourbon, Poland, and other kingdoms, are experimental 
evidences. Wherefore, let such matches be with prudence 
picked out, whose parents are our friends, and firmly at- 
tached to our interests." ..." Ladies of quality are 
easily gained by the influence of the women of their bed- 
chamber. By all means pay attention to these, for 
thereby there will be no secrets in the family but what 
we shall have disclosed to us . . . " " In directing the 
consciences of great men, our confessors are to allow 
the greater latitude that the penitents may be allured 
with the prospect of such freedom, and will depend upon 
our direction and counsel. Princes, prelates, and all who 
are capable of being of signal serA^ce must be so favored, 
as to be made partakers of all the merits of the society." 
" Let it be cunningly instilled into the people, that 
this society is entrusted with a far greater power in ab- 
solving, in dispensing fasts, with paying and demanding 
debts, with impediments in matrimony, than any other. 
They will then have recourse to us, and thereby lay them- 
selves under the strictest obligations. It will be very 
proper to give them handsome entertainments, to address 
them in a complaisant manner, to invite them to hear 
orations, sermons," etc. " Let proper methods be used 
to get knowledge of the animosities that arise amongst 
great men, that we may have a finger in reconciling them ; 
and gradually become acquainted with their secret aff^urs," 
etc. "But should a discovery be made, that any per- 



Secret Inftrudions to the Jefuits. 227 

son serves either king or prince, who is not well af- 
fected towards our society, no stone must be left un- 
turned, by our members, or which is most proper, some 
other, to induce him by promises, favors or preferments, 
to entertain a friendship for and familiarity with us. 
Finally, let all with such artfulness gain the ascendant 
over princes, noblemen, and the magistrates of every 
place, that they may be ready at our beck, even to sacri- 
fice their 7iearest relations and most intimate friends^ 
when we say it is for our iJiterests and advantage !!! '''' 

Chapter III. These secret instructions direct "liow 
those at the head of affairs should be treated, and others, 
who, though not rich, have the capacity of being other- 
wise serviceable." The directions are : " to court their 
authority for obtaining several offices to be dischai-ged 
by us ; if their secrecy and faith may be depended on, 
we may privately use their names in amassing temporal 
goods. They must be calming the minds of the moaner 
sort of people and wheedling the aversions of the popu- 
lace into an affection for our society." " In prosecuting 
the same end, we must engage such prelates to make use 
of, both for confessors and counsellors; and if they at 
any time aim at a higher preferment from the see of 
Rome, their pretensions must be backed with such strong 
interest in our friends in every place, as we shall be 
almost sure not to meet with a disappointment." " Due 
care must be taken that the society have the power of 
presenting vicars, for the cure of souls, to all the colleges 
thoy found, to tlie end that we grasp the government of 
the church, and its parishioners by that means become 
such vassals to us, that we can ask nothing of them that 
they will dare deny us." 

" Whenever the heretics oppose us, we must endeavor 



228 Secret Inftrudions to the Jefuits. 

by tlie prelates to secure the principal pulpits. If it 
happens that a nobleman or prelate is employed in an 
embassy, and pass through a province where we have 
colleges, let them be received with due honor and esteem, 
and as handsomely entertained as religious decency can 
admit to prevent their opposing our society, etc. ' In 
confessing noblemen, seem to have nothing in view but 
God's glory ; but by degrees, and sensibly to be directed 
towards political or secular dominion, but in a solemn 
manner affirm, that the administration of public affairs 
is, what we with reluctance interfere with. Care should 
be taken to lay before them the virtues persons should 
be furnished with, who are to be admitted into public em- 
ploy, not forgetting slyly to recommend to them such as are 
sincere friends of our order ; but this must be done in 
such a manner, (unless the prince or bishop enjoin it,) for 
it may be done better by such as are their favorites or 
familiars.' " 

" Wherefore, let the confessors and preachers be in- 
formed, by our friends, of persons proper for every 
office, and above all, of such as are our benefactors, and 
whose names let them carefully keep by them, that when 
proper opportunities occur, they may be palmed upon 
the prince or government, by the dexterity of our mem- 
bers or agents." 

Reader, you plainly discover here how Protestants 
and Jesuits co-operate in the United States, and why 
leading political men, bend and fall before their su- 
premacy at the ballot box ! " Let confessors and 
preachers soothe the rulers, never giving the least offence 
in their sermons or private conversations, with a winning, 
complaisant address, to dismiss from their minds all 
imaginary doubts, etc. ' Upon the death of any person 



Secret Inftrudions to the Jefuits. 229 

in power, take timely care to get a friend of our society, 
in his room ; but this must be cloaked with such cunning 
and management, as to avoid giving suspicion of our in- 
tending to usurp the prince's authority." 

In chapter V. we are told, that " resistance must be 
made " against those who attempt setting up schools for 
the education of youth in places where our members do 
so with honor and advantage. In such cases, princes and 
magistrates must be told, that different methods of in- 
struction must necessarily imbibe different principles and 
we must persuade them that no society but ours is qualified 
for an ofiice of so great importance ! Let our members be 
mindful to give some public signals of their virtue and 
learning, by directing their pupils in the presence of the 
gentry, magistrates, and populace in their several studies, 
or encraofing them in some other scholastic exercises, for 
gaining public applause !" 

So we find at their annual college commencements in 
all parts of our land, the Roman Catholic prelates are 
seen exciting public applause ; while those enemies to our 
liberties bring one boy forward to speak on " Patriotism," 
and another on the "Life and character of Daniel 
O'Connell," who hated our free institutions, and loved the 
pope so dearly, that he left him his heart, which was 
embalmed after his death, and sent to his holiness at 
Rome ! These Secret Instructions devote much attention 
to the means of decoying rich widows. They say : " the 
confessor must so manage her that she will not do the 
least thing without his advice ; that she must resort to 
frequent sacraments, because in that she freely makes 
the discovery of her most secret thoughts and every 
temptation." " Discourse must be made her concerning 
the advantages of widowhood, and the inconveniences 



230 Secret Inilrudions to the Jefuits. 

of wedlock, etc. ... It will be proper now and then to 
propose some match to her, that she is known to have an 
aversion for, and when she has been made disposed to 
live in widowhood, let her be led to make a vow of 
chastity for two or three years at least, that all tenden- 
cies to a second marriage, and all conversations with 
men, even her nearest relatives and kinsfolks, must be 
forbidden under pretence of closer union with God." 
" Let them renew their vow of chastity, twice a 
year ; they must be visited and treated with not too 
much seventy in confession ; allow them whatever plea- 
sures they have an inclination to. Let women that are 
young and descended of noble parents, be placed with 
those widows under vows, that they become accustomed 
to our directions ; and let some woman be chosen by the 
family confessor, as governess over them," etc. They 
are then taught by these disgusting rules "to yield 
their whole estates to the colleges and works of 
sacred charity, such as buying ornaments for churches, 
wax-tapers, wine, etc., for the services and sacrifices." 
Mothers are instructed, in chapter VIII., "to prac- 
tice chastisement severely on the young in their 
cradles, and when their daughters are nearly growTi up, 
let them be denied the common dress and ornaments of 
their sex, and promising them a plentiful portion, on 
condition they become nuns, let them lament their own 
misfortune, in not having lived a single life." 

"Let our members converse freely with their sons, and 
occasionally introduce them into our colleges, and let 
everything be shown in the best face, so as to invite 
them to enter themselves into the order. Let them see 
our gardens, villas, hear of our travels over the world, 
fimiliarity with princes, etc. Entertain them with 



Secret Inftrudions to the Jefuits. 231 

pleasant stories, and shew thera the preeminence of our 
order above all others. Be careful to provide for these 
youths tutors, firmly attached to our own interests." 

Chapter IX. treats of increasing the resources of their 
colleges. It says : " When a confessor has got a rich 
penitent, let him immediately inform the rectors, and 
try all winning artifices to secure him. But the whole 
success of our affkirs turns on this point, viz : that all our 
members, by studying a compliance with every one's 
humor, work themselves into the good graces of their 
penitents and others with whom they converse ; to 
which end, where places are inhabited by the rich and 
noble, let the provincials take care to send a consider- 
able number : what a plentiful harvest is like to crown 
their endeavors !" 

"If it happen that rich married people, who are 
friends, have daughters, let these be persuaded, by our 
members, to make choice of a religious life. But should 
there be an only son, let no means be omitted to bring 
him over to the society, and freeing him from the fear of 
his parents; show him how acceptable to God, should 
he desert his parents, without their knowledge or con- 
sent ; and if this be eflTected, let him enter the noviciate 
in a remote college having first given information to 
the general !" 

" Let widows, or other devotees, be brought to give 
up all they have to the society, and be contented to live 
on such allowances from time to time, as we shall think 
they have occasion for," etc. "The better to convince 
the world of our poverty, let the superiors borrow 
money on bond, of some rich persons who are our friends, 
and when it is due, defer the payment thereof. After- 
words let the person who lent the money, be visited 



232 Secret Inftrudions to the Jefuits. 

(especially in time of dangerous sickness), and by all 
methods wrought upon to deliver up the land. We 
shall thus gain handsomely without incurring the ill-will 
of the heirs. It will be proper to borrow money also at 
some yearly interest, and dispose of it at a higher rate, 
our friends compassionating the necessities of the society, 
when they find us engaged in erecting colleges and 
building churches, may forgive us the interest and may 
be the principal, and make us a donation in their wills." 

" The society may also traffic advantageously, under 
the borrowed name of some rich merchants, our friends, 
and this may be done even to the Indies, which have 
furnished us not only with souls, but plenteously supplied 
our coffers -vvith wealth." In section 14, they "insist 
that the physician of their friends be in the interest of 
their society, so that among other reasons he may give 
notice of the danger of the patient, who by the terrors of 
purgatory, his money may be extorted, to expiate it." 
"Women, too, (section 16,) are directed to withdraw, 
secretly, sums from their husbands, to the same pious 
end ! " 

Chapter XII. In discoursing on those to be favored 
in the society, it dwells upon " the necessity of securing 
those who are of distinguished families, or have wealth, 
or talents. And this attention must not wholly cease 
until they are under vows, fearing the result would oper- 
ate against them." " If any are to be dismissed treat 
them with the utmost severity, hurry them from one 
duty to another, and though they do whatever you task 
them, always find fault, and under this pretense remove 
them." "For the slightest offence subject them to a 
heavy punishment, in public constantly abash them, till 
they are able no longer to bear it, and then turn them 
out," etc. 



Secret Inftrudions to the Jefuits. 233 

Chapter XV. treats of conduct to nuns and female de- 
votees. " Manage to curry favor with the principal mon- 
asteries, and by degrees get an acquaintance, and work 
yourselves into the friendship of almost the whole city." 

"II Gesuita Moderno" is the title of a work concern- 
ing modern Jesuits, published in Italy about seven years 
ago, by the eminent writer Vicengo Gioberti, a professor 
and Romish priest, elevated by the late king of Pied- 
mont, Charles Albert, to the rank of his prime minister. 

Such a truthful and unimpeachable history of what 
Jesuits are to-day, should be read by every intelligent 
man and woman in our land. Here we see what Jesuits 
are this moment, not in Italy or France, but even in the 
United States. Their thoughts, their feelings, their pur- 
suits, are opposed to liberty, under their appearance of 
being themselves liberal ! They disguise their name, 
dress, manners, language, profession, etc. 

From the Jesuits began the extinction of liberty in the 
present day in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, upon the 
continent of Europe, in Mexico, and elsewhere upon the 
American continent ! By whom, but the Jesuits, was 
Louis Napoleon put upon the throne of France and the 
pope himself restored to the Vatican ? By whom, but 
the Jesuits, did Santa Anna attempt again to succeed in 
Mexico, and who but they keep it prostrate at the feet of 
the pope ! 

Who are allies of the crafty Jesuits in our own land ? 
The ignorant and superstitious Romanists merely ? No, 
the too-trusting and unsuspecting Protestants, whose love 
of toleration lead them to regard all sects of religionists 
as equally good. 

To these, we add the dishonest and corrupt politicians 
of all political parties, who would sell their country for a 



234 Secret Inftmftions to the Jefuits. 

railroad grant, or the liberties of the people forever, 
provided they could but get control of the government 
for the term of four years ! ! 

The Society of Jesus, we have seen is avowedly insti- 
tuted to oppose freedom of conscience, and to persecute, 
disperse and destroy heretics (protestants). Then, is it 
singular, that despotism, with every kind of civil and reli- 
gious oppression, have ever reigned,where the Jesuits have 
prevailed. This is plainly to be discovered with regard to 
England, where their influence is enlarging every day, and 
it is no less visible in the United States at this present 
time ! It is the Jesuits who are now fulfilling the mission 
of the pope in our country, in meddling and entangling 
protestant sects, struggling against, depreciating, ridicul- 
ing and libelling them by every means in their power. 
It is to undermine and destroy our national liberty, that 
the religious liberty of our country is attacked; our 
Bible thrust from the public schools of the country ; and 
*the very foundation of civil and social liberty disturbed, 
by the educational system they are forcing upon the 
people ! 

The " Archbishop" of Xew York calls the American 
schools, in which the Bible is read, " godless," " a uni- 
versal deterioration of your youth," and declares that 
they are " responsible for the awful crimes which blacken 
our courts of justice," and that "no Catholic shall 
darken the doors of these schools." " The Bible," says 
St. Augustine, " explains the Bible !" 

The Freeman'' s Journal republished in January, 1658, 
the following from the London Rambler^ concerning 
the increase of Romish power in the United States: 
" Churches, schools, seminaries, colleges, religious com- 
munities, bishoprics and archbishoprics are rising as if 



Secret Inflrudions to the Jefuits. 235* 

by enchantment, in all parts of the republic. In the 
archiepiscopal province of New York, at the present time 
(1858), there are over eight hundred churches, and 
nearly one million of Catholic souls ! The city of New 
York, w^hich, twenty years "ago, could number but seven, 
can now boast of over thirty places dedicated to Catholic 
worship within its precincts." 

A few days ago a gentleman from abroad, visiting one 
of the public schools of this city, was called upon to 
make some remarks to the pupils. He complied with 
the request, and in the course of his address had occasion 
to refer to one of the parables in the gospel ; turning to 
the principal, he asked for a Bible to read the passage. 
The teacher had not one at hand, and called upon the 
scholars to hand him a Bible. There was not one in the 
room ! He then sent to the other apartments, and dili- 
gent search was made in vain through all the rooms of 
the building, in a school of probably more than a 
thousand scholars, and not a copy of the Bible was to 
be found ! ! ! 

" There are thirteen public schools in the city of New 
York from which the Bible is officially expelled. We are 
informed that some of the school officers, charged with 
the examination and selection of teachers, cannot write 
their own names."* 

It is decreed by the Romish church that whoever 
shall read the Bible, without the permission of a priest, 
shall " be incapable of receiving remission of sins, and 
incur a temporal punishment." 

Every man defends truth, when he attacks error ; and 
against these insidious traitors and imposters, who are 

* New York Observer, October, 1858. 



236 Secret Inftrudions to the Jefuits. 

here to compass this nation's downfall, no neutrality can 
be permitted. He who is not against them is with them, 
and, so recognized by them. If, for the sake of their 
influence, voters and time-serving politicians, preachers 
and teachers, remain inactive as they now are, the day 
may come when there may come a massacre of Ameri- 
cans^ which will exceed that of St. Bartholomew's with 
the Huguenots of France, or the slaughter of the Wal- 
denses in Calabria and Piedmont I 

The very name of the " Holy Roman Apostolic Inquisi- 
tion," is enough to excite alarm, when we know the pope 
has it established, through these agents covertly, even 
already among us. These agents are called the "In- 
quisitors of the heretical pravity," and are chosen from 
cardinals, bishops, prelates, priests, monks and friars. 
Their office is to try, judge, and condemn heretics ac- 
cording to their laws in the " Black Book," of which we 
have given an account in a previous chapter on the In- 
quisition. The Jesuits are here in the United States, to 
defend this " Holy Inquisition," and support the fliith of 
the Romish Church, when despised. This Society of 
Jesuits has alarmed all Europe — enlightened, liberal 
Europe ! The best sons of France, of Spain, of Germany 
and Italy, have declared they are associated with the 
crowned oppressors of the people, to strangle national 
liberty, both religious and civil. 

The following is a part of the Jesuit's oath to the 
pope : 

" I do denounce and disown any allegiance as due to 
any heretical king, prince, or state, named protestant ; 
or obedience to any of their inferior magistrates or 
officers. I do further declare the doctrines of the Church 
of England, of the Calviuists, Huguenots, and other pro- 



Secret Inftrudions to the Jefuits. 237 

testants, to be damnable, and those to be damned who 
will not forsake the same. I do further declare, that I 
will help, assist, and advise all, or any, of his Holiness' 
agents in any place wherever I shall be; and do my 
utmost to extirpate the heretical protestant doctrine, 
and to destroy all their pretended power, legal or other- 
wise. I do further promise and declare, that notwith- 
standing I am dispensed with, to assume any religion 
heretical, (that is, hypocritically I may become so,) for 
the propagation of the mother church's interest, to keep 
secret and private all her agents' counsels as they en- 
trust me, and not divulge directly or indirectly, by word 
writmg, or circumstance whatsoever, but execute all 
which shall be proposed, given in charge or discovered 
unto me, by you my ghostly father, or by any one of 
this convent. All which, I, A. B., do swear by the 
blessed Trinity and the blessed sacrament, which I am 
now to receive, to perform, and on my part, to keep in- 
violably ; and do call all the heavenly and glorious host 
of hearers to witness my real intentions to keep this my 
oath. In testimony hereof, I take the most holy and 
blessed sacrament of the eucharist ; and witness the same 
further with my hand and seal, to the face of this holy 
convent." 

" Jesuitism formerly acted openly, like a conqueror ; 
the modern system acts secretly, like an assassin. To 
belie what has been said of them, they have chosen 
another road, so as to govern in religion and society. 
If you should put the question to them, as to what they 
propose to attain, they would reply : ' The greatest 
glory of God ! !' But if you question the facts, you will 
be forced to conclude, that it is an immoderate thirst for 
dominion, to render themselves necessary to the pope 



238 Secret Inftrudions to the Jefuits. 

and to kings, in order to govern the pope and the whole 
Roman hierarchy. Thus CathoUcism and Jesuitism and 
despotism, are one and the same thing." 

Formerly there existed Jansenists and a Galilean 
church ; but all this has disappeared, and no one can 
longer be a good Catholic, without being a Jesuit.* 

Father De Smet has recently been appointed by the 
government as chaplain of the Oregon army ! The In- 
dians are said to be in such subjection to this Jesuit 
father, as to make him a power in the land, from the 
banks of the Rio Grande to the Columbia river. He, 
therefore, who is the sworn foe to our civil freedom, and 
laboring to destroy it, is deemed the most efficient agent 
to subjugate the Indians, to advance the policy of our in- 
stitutions ! ! ! 

* De Sanctis. 



CHAPTER Vm. 

SAN FIDESTI SOCIETY, OR SOCIETY OF HOLY FAITH. 

The Emblems of it— Awful Oath— Catechism— Established in the United States- 
Mode of Poisoning. 

These subtle allies of absolute governments have a 
society of a secret character, called the " San Fidesti, or 
Society of Holy Faith," or " Brethren of the Catholic 
Apostolic Society of the San Fidesti." Its emblems are 
destruction and death. Hope is forever extinguished.* 
They are significant of complete annihilation. The in- 
scriptions and mottoes are the summing-up of all the 
anathemas and excommunications, hurled by the church, 
against all who rebel against her laws. Here is their 
oath : 

"I, N. N., in presence of Almighty God, the Father, 
Son and Holy Ghost, of the ever immaculate Virgin 
Mary, and of all the celestial court, etc. ; of you, honored 
father, swear, that I will sooner cut off my right hand, 
and die of hunger, or under the greatest torments ; and I 
pray the Lord God Almighty to condemn me to the end- 
less pains of hell, than to betray or deceive one of the 
honored fathers and brethren of the Catholic Apostolical 
Society to which I subscribed at this time, or if I do not 
* "We have seen a card recently, having the American flag, and a 
hand grasping an instrument, aimed at it. This is one of the emblems 
of the San Fidesti, shown by one member to another in our presence, 
inadvertently. 

(239) 



240 San Fidefti Society. 

scrupulously fulfil its laws, or give assistance to my breth- 
ren in want. I swear to defend myself in the cause which 
I have embraced, never to spare a single individual be- 
longing to the infamous combination of the Liberals, 
whatever may he his birth ^ parentage, or fortune, and to 
have no pity for the cries of children, nor of old men or 
women, and to shed the blood of the infamous Liberals, 
even to the last drop, without regard to age, sex, or rank. 
Finally, I swear implacable hatred to all the enemies of 
our Holy Roman Catholic religion, one and true." 

The catechism of the San Fidesti Society, secretly at- 
tested as genuine, by Signor Arduini, in *' Italia del 
Popolo," of March, 1850, p. 96. 

Domanda. Have we a fine day ? 

Besposta. To-morrow, I hope, will be better. D. That 
will be well ! for the road is bad. R. It will soon be im- 
proved. JD. In what manner ? R. By the bones of the 
Liberals. D. What is your name ? R. Light. D. 
Where does the light come from? R. From heaven. 
D. What do you intend to do to-day ? R. To separate 
the grain from the wheat ! D. What is your original 
name ? i?. * * * D. What is your profession of 
faith ? R. The destruction of the enemies of the altar 
and the throne. J). How long is your staff? R. It is 
long enough to strike them. D. What plant produced 
it ? R. One sown in Palestiiie, grown in the Vatican^ 
and under whose leaves all the faithful are safe. JD. Do 
you intend to travel? R, Yes. D. Where? R. To 
the contests of faithfulness and religion, on board the ves- 
sel of the " Fisherman.'''' 

We have now, the catechism of the same society, for 
those initiated into a higher grade. 

D. Hail ! welcome. Tell me, for the second time, who 



San Fidefti Society. 241 

from the Jesuits, inquisitors, etc. Under the laws of 
suspicion^ this society was active under the late Pope 
Gregory XVI., as it now is under Pope Pius IX. Exiles, 
executions, arbitrary imprisonments, the frequent ex- 
amination of dwellings, with innumerable acts of oppres- 
sion, are the work of this society. When the pope visited 
Ancona, in 1841, and was besought by wives and suffering 
friends, he coolly answered, " Don't speak to me of that 
set of men ; I will have nothing to do w^th assassins." In 
another chapter of this work, we have shown, that the 
same atrocities of the Sanfedists, in executing the will of 
that tyrant, have been enacted under Pius IX. 

There are two orders of this society. Padre Sanfidesti 
and Fratelle Sanfidesti. The latter class know no limits 
to the crime which they are bound by their oath to com- 
mit, as ordered, without any inquiry of any kind from 
their leaders, and know no secrets of the society, further 
than their orders. 

Signor Gajani delivered a course of lectures in New 
Haven, under the auspices of Professor Silliman and 
other distinguished men, in 1853. In one of them, he 
stated, that the pope's nuncio, Bedini, came to the 
United States, among other purposes, to establish this 
Sanfidesti Society, and did establish it among us. He 
said, that by-and-by, we would see one distinguished 
Protestant dropping off, then another ; that dissension and 
distrust would be created almost imperceptibly among 
friends. One means of taking off by poison he explained 
thus: " It is a subtle liquid, looking like water, and pre- 
pared with much extreme nicety, as to elude the most 
skillful medical examination. When it is deemed desira- 
ble for any individual or individuals in a family to be put 
aside, for political or other causes, this poison is given to 
11 



242 San Fidefti Society. 

you are ? JR. One of your brethren. D. Are you a 
man ? JR. Yes, indeed ; and I consent that my hand and 
my throat be cut, to die of hunger, and in most terrible 
torments, if I deceive or betray a brother. JD. How do 
you k7iow a brother faithful to his God and his prince ? 
JR. By those three words : " Faith, hope, and indissoluble 
union.'''' JD. Who admitted you among the Sanfedists ? 
R. A venerable man with white hair. JD. What did he 
do to admit you ? H. He made me place one knee upon 
the cross and my right hand upon the holy eucharist., and 
armed me with the blessed sword. D. In what place did 
he receive you ? R. On the banks of the Jordan., in a 
place not contaminated by the enemies of the holy reli- 
gion and of princes, at the hour when the Divine Redeemer 
was born. D. What are your colors? R. White, white 
and red I cover my head; and I cover my heart with white 
and yellow. D. Do you know how many we are ? R. 
We are certainly enough to annihilate the enemies of the 
holy religion and monarchy. D. What is your duty? 
R. To hope in the name of God and of the only true Ro- 
man Catholic church. D. Where does the wind come 
from ? R. From Palestine and the Vatican ; and it will 
disperse .all the enemies of God. D. What are the knots 
which bind you ? R. The love of God, of the country, 
and of truth. D. How do you sleep ? R. Always in 
peace with God, and in the hope of waking at war with 
the enemies of his holy name ! D. How do you call your 
steps ? R. First alpha, the second Xoah's ark, the third 
the imperial eagle, and the fourth the keys of heaven. 
D. Courage, then, brother, and perseverance. 

This society is composed chiefly of vagabonds and out- 
casts of society, but is directed by oiRcers, high in au- 
thority in the Romish church, men of education, selected $1 



San Fidefti Society. 243 

the cook or chamber-maid, who are told by their confes- 
sor to put it in the food or water, once in eight days, to 
save their employers' souls ! The party eating or drinking 
will gradually be undermined in health, but will be unable 
to discover the cause — so will his physician — but the 
work goes slowly on, and after months of suffering — 
sometimes, on stronger constitutions, it may be longer — 
the party expires." It was supposed, to be the agents of 
this society, by whom the Lafarge House and Metropoli- 
tan Hall were burned down in 1854. When it was an- 
nounced that Gavazzi would lecture in that hall, the 
threat was made. He lectured there on Friday night, 
and next day sailed for Europe ; that night they were 
reduced to ashes. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE BIBLE IX THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

The Pope demands the expulsion of the Bible from the puhlic schools in the 
United States — The Archbishop of New York obeys — It is expelled— The 
reward — The school books of the country mutilated by Eomish power — A 
eecret conspiracy requires it— The Madeira Protestants — The bleesing of Clubs 
in Philadelphia to elect a Roman Catholic Legislature — All opponents of popery 
— Protestants — Mortara — Eoman Catholic Prayer Book introduced in Protectant 
famlies, by Servants — The fatal result — Archbishop Kenrick — On the Confessional 
— Cardinal "Wiseman and the Breviary — The Bible the foundation of all our Civil 
and Beligious Eights. 

Feom the principles of the Jesuits, their constitutions 
and secret instructions, the American people, for the first 
time, have the palpable revelations of a secret oath-bound 
organization, in the United States, with the representa- 
tive of the pope at its head, conspiring to put down our 
institutions, laws, and government, as shewn by their 
own writers. Its object is to advance the civil su- 
premacy of the church, and its members are sworn to 
obey any orders which may emanate from and "by 
authority," at whatever sacrifice of life and property 
may he txecessary to secure the desired end. It makes 
one shudder with irrepressible horror to know that an 
organized army is in our midst, at our doors, around 
our firesides, in our schools, who are bound by oaths 
and obligations to obey the behests of one man, no mat- 
ter, if in doing so, this land be deluged in blood, and 
the very existence of our institutions forever destroyed 
(244) 



Bible in the Public Schools 



245 



were they possessed of that power. The blasphemous 
oaths, uttered by every member, binds him to regard 
those high officials who represent the Pope in this coun- 
try as God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. They are sworn 
to obey them as their advisers and directors, in every- 
thing, appertaining to their civil and political rights and 
actio7iSy and by their avowed principles and practices, are 
ready to make a willing sacrifice of life, health, honor, 
character, or property, to defend or advance the Church. 
They are sworn to labor for her welfare in the United 
States, and to obey her orders. They are sworn to use 
every faculty they possess, every pecuniary or political 
advantage they enjoy, every exertion they can make 
and every act they can perform, solely to further the 
ends of the Church, whose single aim is to fasten papal 
tyranny and despotism upon the American people. These 
men are sworn to disregard our laws, sacrifice our lives, 
property and ho7ior / tamper with our institutions, vio- 
late the sanctity of our halls of justice, and deluge our 
streets in blood, if the Church require it ! Yes, men of 
America, this Society of Jesus is constituted the bulwark 
of the Roman Catholic church in this land ; its millions 
of enrolled members, from the archbishop to the last 
Jesuit priest, have taken the awful oaths, which obliges 
them to be trained, equipped, and drilled, for the execu- 
tion of any act of treason or blood, the Pope or General 
of the Order shall command to be done among us ! Every 
week something new, more meddling, more inquisitorial, 
than the previous, occurs, and who can longer wonder ! 
From this parent Society of Jesus have sprung numer- 
ous other secret organizations, for the advancement of 
the Roman Catholic church, all of which subserve the 
one grand aim of absolute destruction to human freedom ! 



246 Bible in the Public Schools. 

Consider the peril in which we are momentarily placed, 
while men, sworn to respect no oath or obligation, and 
to consider all oaths or affirmations, conflicting ^4th the 
interests of the Church, as of no moral binding effect, and 
therefore null and void, if the Church require it. Men, 
sworn, never to testify against any member of their so- 
ciety, to his injury, in any court of justice^ and never to 
acknowledge under any pretense, or for any purpose, that 
a secret society exists among them. With such enemies 
surrounding us, under a promise of absolution for past, 
present and future deeds of infamy, if the Church require 
it, what life is secure, what character unassailable, what 
laws or institutions indestructible ? Yet these men, who 
reveal themselves as conspirators against our government, 
and waiting only until powerful enough to strike the fatal 
blow, enjoy the greatest toleration of religious sentiment, 
and have their countless inquisitorial edifices to ruin 
virtue and destroy liberty, protected by our laws ! 

Instead of the Bible, the pillar upon which our Pro- 
testant and republican structure of government rests; 
these conspirators to our freedom, place the •' Garden of 
the Soul " into the hands of the innocent young daugh- 
ters of the nation, and the polluting Breviary which is 
found in this work, to be especially recommended by 
Cardinal Wiseman for the daily use of priests and women 
of England and the United States. 

The " Garden of the Soul " is in the hands of almost 
every Roman Catholic, and by reference to pages 213, 
214 and 216, the questions may be seen, which are put 
every day, in this country, to every young girl, from the 
age of twelve years, by her father confessor, preparatory 
to mass and receiving the wafer, God. 

The Rev. Herman Xorton, late Corresponding Secre- 



Bible in the Public Schools. 247 

tary of the American Protestant Society, stated, that he 
was well acquainted with a Protestant gentleman, who 
was persuaded by a polite Jesuitical Sister of Charity, to 
send his two young daughters to a Popish school, whose 
minds had been previously corrupted, by the Archbishop's 
prayer book, the " Garden of the Soul " in the hands of 
a servant. After a term of two years in the school, these 
girls secretly joined the Romish Church. On returning 
home, they absolutely refused to hear the reading of the 
Holy Scriptures or to unite in the family worship of their 
Protestant parents. The agonized father implored them 
to kneel before the Lord around the family altar, but they 
remained inexorable, and preferred to kneel before the 
priest in the confessional, to the only living and true God. 
Of similar facts in the United States, there are thousands. 

Our Bible tells us, that when the Evangelist, John, 
attempted to kneel before God Almighty's angel, who 
showed him things wonderful in heaven and earth, the 
angel cried out at once, forbidding such homage to any 
being but God ! But the priests of Rome demand abso- 
lute prostration of the penitent at their feet, while they 
are questioning the innocent girl from a Roman Catholic 
prayer book, the "Garden of the Soul;" and are in the 
confessional, according to Archbishop Kcnrick, with the 
authority of God to pardon, bind and loose on earth ! 

The Word of God is not only a jDrohibited book, in the 
Romish system, but the reading of it, or hearing it read, 
is made the worst of criminal offences, and punished by 
the Inquisition. 

We come now to the war on God's Holy Word by its 
expulsion from the public and free schoo's of th's coun- 
try. In 1841, Bishop Hughes, in effect, offered the Roman 
Catholic vote for sale, at Carroll Hall, in the city of New 



248 Bible in the Public Schools. 

York, if the Bible would be excluded from the common 
schools ! Of this movement, the New York Herald of 
June 20, 1854, says: "The operations of Bishop Huixhes 
on the School question, caused the nomination of a 
Catholic ticket for the Senate and Assembly, and had the 
effect to cause divisions between Americans and adopted 
citizens, at Tammany Hall." Thus, the Herald^ ascribes 
to Bishop Hughes the first church movement in the poli- 
tical affairs of our country ; by introducing " religion " 
into the arena of politics, and nominating a Catholic 
ticket for the Senate and Assembly on the School ques- 
tion ! Let every Protestant and patriot, remember this 
fact. Thirty-eight schools in the city of l!^ew York, 
alone, abolished the Bible and commissioners were ap- 
pointed, to expunge from the pages of the school books, 
all facts of history which were displeasing to the Papal 
system. Books so mutilated and defaced with black, can 
now be seen at the Bible House, in that city. This 
Bible expulsion from the schools begun by the Arch- 
bishop in the New York Legislature, was followed by a 
similar effort in the McClintock bill in Pennsylvania. 
Nine States of the Union have made the attempt to expel 
the Bible from the schools, and in California, they have 
been successful. 

Appropriations of money have been asked of the Penn- 
sylvania Legislature, even to build convents and houses, 
for the " Sisters of Mercy," and actually passed one 
branch of it ! 

Pius IXth rewarded the Jesuit bishop of New York 
with an archbishop's mitre for his zeal and success in 
abolishing the Bible from thirty-eight public schools, in 
the city of New York, alone ; nor was this all — but he 
procured a papal school committee, to examine every 



Bible in the Public Schools. 



249 



book in tlie hands of the children, and every passage of 
truth in their books of history which were offensive to 
the Pope, were blotted out. Even those books which 
praised the pilgrim fathers for their zeal for God's service ; 
who were exiles for conscience sake, were blackened with 
ink — and these popish Jesuits teach in the confessional, 
and in their schools, that the Plymouth Rock pilgrims 
were a band of robbers and pirates, who fled from Europe 
to America on account of crimes committed against the 
government of papal England ! 

The past success on this subject and the rapid increase 
of numbers and influence in the United States; over 
Protestants, as well as their own subjects ; has again 
renewed the war on the Bible and caused a fresh expul- 
sion of this Holy Book of God, from twelve of the pub- 
lic schools, in the city of New York, in 1858. This will 
be a mighty move, if not at once arrested ! 

It is not a matter which affects merely the professed 
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ; nor even the moral class 
of men, but those also who unhappily never read the 
Bible at all ! but who would fight for the privilege of re- 
ligious and civil freedom, and die sooner than have their 
posterity a band of crouching slaves, subject to the abso- 
lute will of a single despot ! If the Bible can be taken 
from some of the schools, it may be taken from all. Can 
anything be more natural than that a system of despot- 
ism, cloaked under the garb of religion, maintained by 
principles, which trample down every one of God's laws, 
should sedulously seek to expel the Bible from the sight 
of the people ? The Jesuit system of education can be 
eff'ectively enforced only in this way. Then the morals 
of the people would not be guarded, either by a divine 
or human code, for who that acknowledged the princi- 
11* 



250 Bible in the Public Schools. 

pies of their theological works would think of adhering 
to the constitution and laws of our land. Who of the 
Jesuit priests will affirm to the people of the United 
States, to-day, that they are not solemnly bound to incul- 
cate, by all means, and at any cost, their system and 
principles, amongst the American people ? The Church 
now requires the expulsion of your Bible. People of the 
United States ! Fear this ! 

Pius IX., in his allocution to the cardinals in Septem- 
ber, 1851, said, " That he has taken this principle for 
basis, that the Roman Catholic religion, with all its 
rights^ ought to be exclusively dominant in such sorty 
that every other religion shall be banished and inter- 
dicted." 

There is a society, in Europe, called the Christian 
League, organized for " the cii'culation of the Holy Scrip- 
tures ; for the advocacy of human rights, and to give to 
all nations religious liberty." Against this society the 
present Pope, Pius IXth, issued a bull, a few years since, 
declaring that " all those who enrol themselves in such 
societies, or who presume to aid or abet them in any way? 
are guilty of a most grievous sin before God and the 
Church." "It is your duty to remove from the hands of 
the faithful (all) Bibles translated into the /ulgar tongue. 
We especially reprobate the aforesaid Christian league, 
it being their determination to give to all nations reli- 
gious liberty." Can this language of the Pope be mis- 
understood ? Is there any thing of a doubtful character 
m the sentiments it expresses ? Is it not the re-affirma- 
tion of the infillible system of popery, showing the spirit 
of the Papal See, is noio^ to all intents, one, with popery 
in the darkest ages of its existence ? Here we have the 
express command of Pius IXth to every Romish priest 



Bible ill the Public Schools. 251 

in the United States, (as eveiywhei-e beside,) to remove 
from the hands of Catliolics all Bibles printed in the 
language of the people. Here we see his open edict 
against religious and civil liberty, and the command of 
the Church is brought to bear in all its force, and dares 
to suppress and extirpate the Word of the Most High 
God in our own country. 

A society, embracing nearly all the wealthy Roman 
Catholics of Europe, has been organized, with the express 
design of establishing Roman Catholic colonies in our 
Western States. London is its head-quarters, but it has 
branches in almost every capital in Europe. 

The prospectus of this society proves clearly that its 
objects and designs are: 

1st. To provide the means for colonizing the surplus 
Roman Catholic population of Europe in our Western 
States. 

2d. To do this in such a manner as to create a large de- 
mand for articles of European manufacture ; and, 

3d. To make Romanism the predominant religion of 
the United States. 

In connection with this pamphlet, the Society also pub- 
lished a map of North America, showing the proposed 
field of Papal occupancy and ultimate ascendancy ; in 
which field is comprised the States of Illinois, Indiana, 
Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin Territory, with Canada 
West. The part of the map colored blue indicates the 
section of American territory, and the red shows the re- 
lative and adjacent portion of Canada, which it is by this 
Society designed to occupy. Nor are we at liberty to 
doubt that occupancy will be but the precursor of dis- 
ruption from the Federal compact and the foundation of 
a Catholic empire in North America. 



252 Bible in the Public Schools. 

This field of colonization embraces the entire range of 
our lakes and the whole of our beautiful and fertile West. 

The "West is rapidly being settled by a foreign Catholic 
population, acknowledging the Roman pontiff as their 
head. In a few years, the population of these Western 
States will probably equal the present population of the 
United States; and over that immense population the 
influence of the Church of Rome will be universal, and 
the interests of the papacy all-absorbing ! When this is 
so, the dismemberment of the American union and the 
establishment of popish supremacy over the fairest portion 
of this republic will be inevitable. The hatred borne to 
our institutions influences the annual remittance of Euro- 
pean gold to our country, to further the cause of the 
foreign hierarchy. The Leopold Society in Austria sends 
its yearly sums to be distributed in the West. The Free- 
mail's Journal^ the papal organ of the Archbishop of 
New York, gave the following, in 1854, as an appropri- 
ation of foreign capital, to spread Romanism in the United 
States : 

Francs 

For the Establighment of the Redemptionist, (Baltimore,) 64,120 

Et. Rev. Dr. Loras, Bishop of Dubuque, (Iowa territory,) 41,820 

Lefeure, Coadjutor Bishop of Michigan, - 10,600 

Purcell, Bishop of Cmciunati, (Ohio,) - 41,800 

Fenwick, Boston, .... 19,894 

Kenrick, PbOadelphia, - - • 19,680 

Wheelen, Richmond, (Virginia,) - - 24,900 

The congregation of the Fudites, in diocese of Vincennes, (Iowa,) 20,080 

The Missions of the Fathers of Mercy, - - - 24,600 

Lazarists, ----..- 35,000 

Jesuits in Missouri, ...... 40,428 

Jesuits in Kentucky, ..... 15,000 

Lazarists, designed for Texas, .... 25,000 

Shall the Protestant Bible and freedom be saved in the 



Bible in the Public Schools. 253 

West ? or shall it be reduced to the present condition of 
the South American States ? 

A few years since a nobleman bought an immense 
body of land in Pennsylvania, to colonize Roman Catho- 
lics, and a Western paper states, that " colonies are con- 
tinually arriving among us, of the priesthood and laity, 
with the avowed purpose of carrying out the designs of 
founding a Roman Catholic empire on this soil. In 
one case it was said a colony was composed of twelve 
hundred families ; in another, of an order of monks, who 
are reported to have just purchased, in the heart of one 
of the richest of our North- Western States, some sixteen 
hundred acres of land. From Pittsburg to New Orleans 
the land is covered with a population yielding the most 
implicit obedience to the Romish authority and dominion. 
At every prominent point in the entire west, bishops, 
priests, churches, convents,, etc., etc., are to be seen. 
These openly and clandestinely are inquiring into the 
affairs of Protestants, and by their urbanity, meekness, 
and assumed sanctity, are securing their children^ and 
thus preparing for an easy triumph over our American 
heritage." 

Here, then, is the grand movement, to establish a 
Roman Catholic empire on this soil ! In a few years the 
West will have a population more than equal to the 
present population of the remaining States of this Union ; 
it will elect our rulers and make our laws. Shall it be 
conceded to the Romish despot ? Americans, there is 
but one way to arrest this movement, and your salvation 
and that of your posterity requires that you settle this 
question now — hereafter it will be too late ! Resist the 
expulsion of your Bible from the schools, or the next 
generation will be Roman Catholic ! Stop your children 



254 Bible in the Public Schools. 

from learning Godless nonsense, bj taking them away 
from Jesuit instruction. The Bible is the foundation of 
all education — it is the foundation of our institutions. 
The American people are not a Roman Catholic race ; 
and in the adoption of laws which made our national ex- 
istence, the question of their incompatibility with the 
Romish doctrine was never permitted to arise. Our 
fathers were not influenced by considerations favorable 
to Roman Catholics, and, even as colonies of the British 
government, they complained of Jesuit incursion, which 
then impeded their march to national freedom ! It is 
the Word of God, our Creator and Preserver, that has 
made the nation free, by making the people fear his laws, 
and love, obey and serve Him who is the Lord of life 
and immortality ! If the Bible is once surrendered to 
our Romish foes, Christian education, in all its glorious 
results will be destroyed, and the sun of freedom will 
have set forever. 

The Roman Catholic Jesuits are sworn to educate this 
country into their principles and practices, in order to 
subjugate it. To this end, bishops, priests, monks and 
nuns all labor to destroy the Holy Bible. 

The persecution of the Protestants of Madeira from 
1843 to 1846, will further prove what the Roman Catho- 
lic spirit is at this day. The queen of Portugal allowed 
two Protestant congregations to worship on that island. 
In fact, it owed all its prosperity to the merchants of the 
United States and England. But no sooner had the 
English and American residents began to circulate the 
Bible and open Protestant schools, than the bishops and 
priests forbade the people from attending them, or wor- 
sliipping God. They were commanded to adore the 
image, to attend mass in Latin, and the idolatrous con- 



Bible in the Public Schools. 255 

fession of the priests. Those who refused to do this, for 
the sake of Christ, were thrown into dungeons and 
buried Hke dogs, when they died there. Some were 
whipped to death, others had their houses burned over 
their heads. The British minister, invited the English 
famihes, who were thus persecuted for loving God's Holy- 
Word, to take refuge under his roof. Miss Rutherford, 
an English lady, invited forty of these Protestants to her 
home, and while there, engaged in praising God, a mob 
attacked the house with stones, clubs, and rocks, and 
broke up the meeting. The most respectable women 
were grossly insulted, and the most brutal outrages were 
perpetrated. The pope issued his bull of excommunica- 
tion, which was immediately read from every popish 
pulpit on the island, in which he forbade the people to ex- 
tend any humanity to their relatives or friends who were 
Bible Christians. Mothers were arrested and thrown 
into prison, and their helpless infants torn from them and 
left to die for want of nourishment, except, when taken 
into the Roman Catholic Church by baptism. Even 
goat's milk was prohibited to nourish the little innocent 
babes. This bull was issued in the name of the bishop 
of the island, Don Januario Vicente Camacho, and is 
before us. Through the aid of the American and Eng- 
lish Protestants, these persecuted Bible worshippers fled 
to the Island of Trinidad, and from thence to the State 
of Illinois, in these United States. 

Says Mr. Hogan.* 

" While I was a Romish priest in Philadelphia, a con- 
sultation was held between the Popish priests in the 

* Extract from Mr. Hogan's "Popery as it was and as it is." Mr. 
Hogan was pastor of St. Mary's Roman Catholic church, in Philadel- 
phia, for twelve years. 



256 Bible in the Public Schools. 

diocese of Philadelphia, and it was secretly resolved by 
them that the best mode of checking HogarCs heresy^ as 
they termed my advocating the reading of the Bible, 
was to take possession of the church in which I officiated 
in the name of the Pope. They accordingly wrote to 
his holiness, humbly prapng this man-god to send them 
out a bishop, and to give him and his successors in office 
a lease of St. Mary's Church in Philadelphia, and all the 
appurtenances thereunto belonging. Accordingly, his 
royal holiness the Pope sent them a bishop, with the 
aforesaid lease. I was immediately ordered out of the 
church, and having refused to depart, unless the trustees 
thought j)roper to remove me, this emissary of the Pope, 
only a few days or weeks in this country, had me indicted 
for officiating in St. Mary's Church, although I had the 
full and undivided consent of the trustees. 

" But the bishop's legal right was questioned ; the case 
was brought before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 
Chief Justice Tighlman, presiding. I was discharged 
from bail and custody, and the rights of the trustees sus- 
tained. But the priests and bishops were not content 
with this decision. They put their heads once more to- 
gether, and fancied that they discovered another mode 
by which they could rob the people of their rights, and 
defeat the intention of the donors of St. Mary's church ; 
and what was their plan, think you, fellow-citizens ? The 
bishop called a meeting of all the priests and leading 
Roman Catholics in the diocese. Every lay member was 
ordered to bring with him a hickory-stick (or club). The 
meeting was held in the Church of St. Joseph ; and at the 
hour of twelve, at night, the Romish bishop of the diocese 
of Pennsylvania^ an Irishman, not more than a few months 
in the country, attended in his pontificals, told the multi- 



Bible in the Public Schools. 257 

tude wlio were there assembled, to lay down their sticks 
in one pile, in order that he might bless them for their 
use. This was done as a matter of course. The bishop 
said mass, sprinkled holy water upon the sticks, blessed 
them ; and this done, the whole party bound themselves 
by a solemn vow never to cease until they elected a le- 
gislature in Pennsylvania that would annul the charter 
of St. Mary's church ; and, as an American citizen, I 
blush to state the fact, they succeeded. The charter was 
annulled by an act of the legislature, and property w^orth 
over a million of dollars would have passed into the hands 
of the Pope and his agents, were there not a provision in 
the constitution of that State, empowering the Supreme 
Court to decide upon the constitutionality of the acts of 
the legislature. 

" We brought the question of the constitutionality of 
the act before the court, Justice Tighlman presiding. 
The court decided in favor of the trustees and myself. 
This, I believe, is the first attempt the Pope has made to 
establish his temporal power in this country. The priests 
have headed the papists as a body, and have resolved to 
carry, by the ballot-box, their schemes." 

Whoever protests against popery is a protestant. No 
sect has suiFered more from the persecution of the 
Romish church, than the Israelite, and in common with 
them, the whole protestant people of the United States, 
should be warned of by the case of young Mortara. 
We cannot better illustrate the hostility of Rome to the 
Bible, than by calling the reader's attention to this fact 
as extracted from The Press, 



258 Bible in the Public Schools. 

THE MORTAHA CASE. 

This case, which has created so profound a sensation 
abroad, and given rise to such violent controversy in the 
journals of the continent, has been hitherto so little 
noticed here, save in the foreign correspondence of our 
newspapers, that it may be desirable, before giving our 
own view of this last aggression of the papal church, to 
state shortly, for the information of our readers, the cir- 
cumstances as they occurred. The son of some Jewish 
people at Bologna, aged six years, has been forcibly 
taken from his parents on the pretense that two years 
previously — that is, at the age of four — he had been sub- 
jected to the rite of lay baptism by his nurse. The child 
has been placed in an institution called the refuge of 
catechumens, and is still forcibly withheld from his 
parents under the express sanction of the pope, who has 
been apjDcaled to, on the ground that by the canon law 
he has become a subject of the church into which he has 
been fraudulently baptized. 

This monstrous outrage on all usage, on all fundamen- 
tal principles of law, and upon those universal riglits of 
man which it ought to be the first object of all law to 
establish and to uphold, has excited, we are glad to ob- 
serve, the strongest and most unfeigned indignation 
among the greater portion even of the members of the 
Roman Church. The Constitutionnel the Journal des 
Debats. and the Nord have animadverted in the most 
earnest manner upon the scandalous conduct of the papal 
priesthood, and urgent appeals have been made to the 
French government to interfere in the matter. Of their 
right, of our right, of the right of every member of the 
family of European nations to use their influence by 



Bible in the Public Schools. 259 

representation to have this grievous wrong redressed, 
there cannot, we apprehend, be the slightest doubt, if 
not in the mere interest of Mortara, a Jewish citizen in 
the papal states, at all events in the interests of human- 
ity at large. Much as we pity and feel for the parents 
of this unfortunate little victim of papal greed and des- 
potism the interests of the family are absorbed in the 
greater question of the interests of humanity, and of the 
necessity that all Europe should make a stand against 
this new attempt of the Inquisition to assert the immu- 
nity of their order and of their system from the control 
of natural and civil law. 

The real issue that is raised by this act of the Inquisi- 
tion, and upon which the Univers on its behalf, before it 
was aware of the strength and universality of the feeling 
against it in the first instance, took its stand, is the pre- 
eminence and supremacy of ecclesiastical law and eccle- 
siastical authority whenever the church and state are 
in presence together, and whenever civil and canon law 
are in antagonism. That is the issue which Rome is bent 
on trying now, and which she will continue to try with 
that continuity of policy and perseverance of action in 
which no other power, save Russia, has ever equalled 
her. She tried it here in England in 1851, when she 
parcelled out the dominion of Queen Victoria into terri- 
torial principalities. She tried it in Sardinia, upon the 
question of marriage. She tried it in Austria upon the 
question raised by the concordat. She tried it in Ireland 
upon the occasion of the progress through the kingdom 
of one of her temporal princes, by proclaiming, through 
the marked and designed omission of the queen's health 
on a great public occasion, the supremacy of tlie pope 
and his authority, and she is trying it now in the face of 



26o Bible in the Public Schools. 

Eiu'ope by the i-iolent abduction of this boy, and by the 
reestablishment in Germany of those ecclesiastical coun- 
cils which the Emperor Joseph II. so wisely abolished 
and interdicted. In the first attempts she has failed 
ignominiously. Her territorial bishops are myths, her 
cardinal-prince is a laughing-stock. In Austria alone 
she has met with success. It remains to be seen whether 
the emperor of the French, by the aid alone of whose 
soldiery the pope sits in the Chair of St. Peter, will per- 
mit all law, natural, human, and divine, to be set aside 
and overridden by an organization of despotic priests 
seeking irresponsible temporal power. We have italicized 
the last words because w^e desire especially to impress 
upon the minds of our readers the great and important 
fact that these aggressions have every one of them been 
as a temporal, not of a spiritual character, and that in 
every one of them the object has been the acquisition of 
purely temporal despotism, of undisputed and irrespon- 
sible control over the political ordinances, the social life, 
and the private property of all men in all countries. 

The affair of the Jew boy Mortara, is assuming con- 
siderable gravity. The French government has repre- 
sented, in very serious terms, to the pope that it is abso- 
lutely impossible that, in the middle of the nineteenth 
century, the Roman Catholic Church can be allowed to 
kidnap an Israelite child, baptize him, and shut him up 
in a convent away from his parents. But his holiness 
has answered the famous N^07i Possmnits — " such is the 
law of the church, and I cannot, dare not, will not alter 
it ! " The French government has been deeply hurt at 
this response, and is now pressing on the pope to recon- 
sider it. In the meantime, the affair is creating a pro- 
found sensation in France. Public opinion pronounces 



Bible in the Public Schools. 261 

decisively and indignantly against the conduct of the 
papal see. The ultra-montane party, however, defends 
that conduct with all its usual violence. As the matter 
stands, it is not easy to see what will be the issue. The 
pope cannot, evidently, give up the child without render- 
ing the canon subservient to the civil law, and without 
in the eyes of fanatical Catholics, abandoning a soul to 
perdition ; but the indignation of the French, and it may 
be added of all civilized Europe, will never let the little 
creature remain in the papal clutches. It is seriously 
recommended by many eminent personages that the 
French government shall make its troops at Rome rescue 
the child by force. 



CHAPTER X. 



CATHOLIC CONGREGATIONS. 



Slander and Calumny — Their aim— Bnsinese — TNTiat they study — Association 
of Mechanics^Congregations influence Politics — They control Domestics — 
Daily Mass. 

We find in the United States very frequent allusions 
to the "Catholic Congregations;" and Protestants sup- 
pose it merely means a community of Roman Catholic 
worshippers for that single object ! This is not so. 
" They are an association of men, acting in view of 
temporally promoting their own welfare and that of the 
church. These associates are religious and worldly, pro 
fane and holy; mass and business are equally per- 
formed by them. They are the manufactories of slander 
and calumny. By them are forged the arrows directed 
against the enemies of the Romish church. In their as- 
semblies are studied Loyola's Precept-book, Dens' Theo- 
logy, Molina's Casuistry, and Liguori, who sums them up. 
There the pupil is taught that famous sentence : " It is 
necessary to be a hypocrite, in order to cut one's way 
through the world." 

These "congregations" are established all over our 

country, as in France, where, says M. de Montlosier, 

(who had studied these institutions, and been a witness 

on the spot,) " every town has three congregations — of 

[262] 



I 



Catholic Congregations. 263 

the gentry, of the professional students, and of the com- 
mon people." 

The inferior classes of society were in this respect 
treated as superior classes. By means of an association, 
called that of St. Joseph, all mechanics are at present en- 
rolled and disciplined : there is in each district a sort of 
centurion, who is a bourgeois of consideration in the ar- 
rondissement. The general-in-chief is M. L'Abbe Leoven. 
Under the auspices of a great personage, he obtained 
the grant of the Grand Hall of Versailles. Here he pro- 
posed to organize eight or ten thousand mechanics 
from the departments. Enormous expenses were al- 
ready incurred in preparing this edifice for the recep- 
tion of the enrolled ... A million will hardly suffice for 
all they have consented to do at the will of M. L'Abbe 
Leoven. "While the mechanics were disciplined, the 
wine merchants were not neglected, some of them have 
been ordered to supply them with wine at a cheaper 
rate. Even while they are getting drunk, they have for- 
mulas of pious meditations, or prayers, to recite. There 
is no situation, down to the appointment of domestics, of 
which they have not taken care to possess themselves. I 
have seen at Paris chambermaids and valets, who were 
said to have been recommended by the congregation."* 

"The villagers of the country, officers of the court, 
the royal guard, have not been able to escape the ' con- 
gregation.' It is within my knowledge that a marshal 
of France, after for a long time, having solicited the place 
of sub-prefect for his son, could not at last obtain it but 
through a recommendation from the curate of his village 
to a chief of the congregation" . . . "The Chamber of 

* Who doubts that such organizations exist in our country at this 
preseut time ? 



264 Catholic Congregations. 

Deputies, in the month of April last, sometimes comited 
one hmidred and thirty, sometimes one hundred and fifty 
members of the congregation. Such are the different 
soils to which the congregation is attached by strong 
roots. It possesses still stronger hold upon the con- 
sciences of men, from the religious sentiment which it 
professes, and in their opinions from the royalism of its 
doctrines. Above all, it has the civil and 2)olitical au- 
thorities almost entirely at its hecTc^ for it has had the 
nominations of almost all* 

Now let Protestants see what the Catholic congrega- 
tions are doing in the United States. 

"We will inform them from the Catholic organ. The 
Freeman'' s Journal^ of August, 1858. It says : " The Mis- 
sionary Company of the ' J^ew Congregation of St. Paul 
the Apostle,' have just made a purchase of ground on 
59th Street, Xew York city, comprising 32 lots, near 9th 
Avenue. They commence their labors with the special en- 
couragement of Pope Pius IXth, and the personal as well 
as canonical approval of the most Reverend Archbishop of 
New York." The circular says : " The religious house 
we propose to estabUsh is not a merely local institution, 
but is intended to be the centre of missions to be given 
in all parts of the country. A reference to the past his- 
tory of our missionary band shows that missions have 
been given since April, 1831, in the dioceses of Baltimore, 
New York, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Bos- 
ton, Pittsburgh, Albany, Brooklyn, Louisville, Newark, 
Detroit, Charleston, Mobile, Richmond, Savannah, Buf- 
falo, Wheeling, Cleveland, Erie, Burlington and Florida. 
Missions have been given in 17 of our cathedrals, and in 

* La Religion la Societie et le Trone, by M. le Comte de Mont- 
losier, (Paris,) 1826. 



Catholic Congregations. 265 

66 parish churches. The whole number of missions has 
been 88; and the whole number of communions 173,000. 

" A new religious congregation, under the title of ' The 
Congregation of Missionary Priests of St. Paul the Apos- 
tle,' has been organized in this city under the auspices of 
Archbishop Hughes, with a view to the more vigorous 
prosecution of the missions and other works of the apos- 
tolic ministry, in which, as a body, they have been en- 
gaged for the last seven years. A very eligible site 
adapted to these purposes has been chosen in the suburbs 
of the city, on which it is intended to build a temporary 
church and so much of the convent as is required for im- 
mediate use. The sum required to purchase this lot and 
erect the necessary buildings is from $40,000 to $50,000, 
and Catholics of the United States are looked to for this 
sum." 

Thus we see the practices put forth, under the cloak of 
religion, to obtain power and dominion over our country ; 
and amidst the constant and incredible success which they 
fearlessly announce, has attended their diabolical efforts 
to destroy us ; blind and tolerant Protestants, read of the 
prosperity of the " Catholic congregations" with extreme 
complacency ! 

" Pope Pius IXth entered on the thirteenth year of 
his pontificate on the 17th of June of the present year, 
1858, Cardinal Mattel, on the occasion of this anniversary, 
went according to custom to congratulate his holiness in 
the name of the Sacred College. The pope, in a most 
gracious reply, after expressing his gratitude to Provi- 
dence for having sent happy days to succeed those trying 
ones of the first years of his reign, congratulated himself 
on the prosperous situation of the church. 

" The pope has published an encyclical letter, addressed 
12 



I 



266 Catholic Congregations. 

to all patriarchs, primates, archbishops and bishops, le- 
commending them to exercise strict watch over all eccle- 
siastics having the charge of souls, that they be obliged 
to perform mass not only on Sundays and holy-days, but 
on every day in the year." 

The above notices show the condition in which the 
pope regards his church in the United States, and ac- 
counts for the increased activity of his emissaries, who 
now celebrate mass every day in the year ! 



CHAPTER XI. 

*' THE GUILDS" OF IRELAND. 

Rome baa Changed its Policy in the U.S.— Henceforth Aggressive— the Design of 
Popery Here— To Make the Nation Papal— The Address— Rules of the Qoilds. 

"While the Romish Church was laying its ecclesiastical 
net-work in the United States, its policy was one of de- 
fense; now it is one of aggression. Protestants have 
allowed the priesthood to increase their organizations 
and accumulate their strength so rapidly, by the indiffer- 
ence with which they have regarded it, that the language 
now used by the prelates and priests in our country is as 
imperious and dogmatic as it would be in any papal 
country in Europe ! In England and the United States 
openly avowed measures are being now taken to put 
Popery up, and bring Protestantism down ! 

They act in this country upon the axiom that the 
public sentiment of the next generation will depend upon 
the prejudices and instructions given to the youth of the 
present time. If the young in the United States can be 
prejudiced against Protestants and in favor of Romanists, 
they will in future give the ascendency to popery. Thus 
it is, that Romish influence is exerted to bring the largest 
number of youth into their houses of education, that 
young men and young women may be made papists. 

There is an organization in Ireland called " the Guilds," 
designed to aid the interests of the Vatican. These secret 

(267) 



268 The Guilds of Ireland. 

associations, intimately affect tlie Protestant interests of 
our country. We will give the reader a few extracts 
from the address and rules of the Irish " Guilds :" 

" In rendeiing the nation good Chjistians (i. c, Roman 
Catholics,) and associating, by the power of their common 
Catholicity, in one great fraternity, we cannot be un- 
conscious that great results can be legitimately expected. 
An aggregation of our guilds is a guarantee to persever- 
ance. 

"Every brother has the eye of hundreds pursuing 
him, besides the particular vigilance of his o"\vn body. 

" The Avardens of each guild are bound to make re- 
turns of the moral and material condition of those whom 
they have in charge ; their attendance at confession, the 
oratory, etc., and thus every brother has a continual 
stimulant to edifying perseverance in grace. Men are 
by these means fenced round with sacred guardianship, 
placed in a position between which and the divine bless- 
ing, there is nothing to interpose. But we expect more, we 
expect, in time, a public opinion for truth and virtue an all- 
pervading, sound, indomitable (Roman) Catholic spirit." 

" We believe that it is our duty to extend public 
opinion in favor of practical Catholicity [i. e., Popery), 
and to adopt such means as men employ to forAvard 
merely material ends. We think our designs far more 
high, holy and important than any that can engage 
literary, political or agricultural improvers, and that they 
therefore should command as much solicitude, thought- 
fulness, earnestness and labor. Xay, we really believe 
that we shall reach all the ' other things' by God's way 
much sooner than those Avho, as an American philosopher 
says, 'vote God out of the State,' and depend upoD 
themselves. 



The Guilds of Ireland. 269 

" This ' public opinion,' in sustaining of true religious 
feeling, will have an extensive operation, and in almost 
every department of society. Individual Catholics and 
large classes, committees, juries and boards, corporations 
and legislatures, the whole state, social, political, com- 
mercial and literary, must feel the influence of our ever- 
working, never-sleeping spirit of Catholic (Popish) truth 
and feeling, which will have the right and power to be 
reflected in every movement of the State. 

"If some unhappily constituted minds seem "rather to 
be patrons than disciples of the doctrine of Christ ; if 
they assume to thejnselves the right of judging when 
they are ignorant, of censuring when they are absurd, 
and of diflering when they are ignorant, absurd and 
heretical; if there be a species of spurious respectability, 
pursued at the sacrifice of heaven, and earth and common 
decency ; if a heretical hue of soul, conversation, reading 
and opinion, be weakly deemed by them intelligent, 
philosophical and progressive, it is not very frequently 
because they are malicious or infidel, but only because 
they are superficial and victims of their own shallowness, 
easily impressible and wrought upon by their associations. 
Before the tide of a noble Catholic opinion, all these 
lighter bodies, that occasionally produce such inconveni- 
ence, would be rapidly swept away, and, indeed, from 
their very lightness, would more efiectively exhibit the 
direction and power of the current. 

" A sound Catholic opinion — preaching Catholic princi- 
ple, aixd inculcating and pursuing sound Catholic practice 
— would write the history of the Church in our hearts. 
We would glory in her great names, reverence her 
ministrations, study her privileges and her interests, and 
watch over her healthy vigor with jealous care. Know- 



270 The Guilds of Ireland. 

ing her mission of love and hope, and appreciating its 
importance to the present and future interests of society, 
we would vigilantly guard against every assault upon 
her liberty, and open every home and heart to her 
approach. Believing her to be the power of God, the 
mercy of God, the love of God, the will of God, God 
embodied^ we would view and estimate all deeds, diffi- 
culties, observances and neglects — policy, diplomacy and 
law, just as they affected her; approve as they sustained 
and discountenance as they opposed her reign, until we 
should have placed her in a position which revelation 
proclaims and history witnesses as her own — ^the position 
of the ever-living and ever-suffering Saviour of the world. 

" Let us ask, then, can we overrate the importance of 
a great public opinion in favor of the Church ? These 
countless influences to which we have adverted, and 
many others which we have not named, are daily and 
hourly pronouncing on the Church. In any form of 
social being, public opinion must mould the prejudices or 
principles of the great majority of such individuals. 
From its nature it will insensibly sway them. From 
their own interests it will rule them, where truth might 
be ineffectual. And hence to create, foster, extend and 
render such an opinion supreme in this Catholic country, 
is the guarantee of the practical freedom of religion, 
and that the public resources shall be the servants 
of goodness, and justice, and truth. 

"In view of such a noble mission as that to which they 
have adverted, the Council need not remark that every 
feeling but that of Catholicity must be subdued. The 
affairs of the politician, the affiirs of commerce, social 
and trade affairs have their own place, their own means, 
and their own objects ; these may be very good or very 



The Guilds of Ireland. 271 

bad, desirable or objectionable, but with them the 
* Young Men's Society' has nothing to do. We seek to 
save men's souls and to create a large Catholic organiza- 
tion. A Catholic heart, a generous, self-sacrificing Catho- 
lic spirit is all we need and all we can seek. Therefore, 
let the postulant be a man, and determined to be a good 
one, and we can ask no further question, and demand 
no other qualification. 

"Let every brother feel convinced that the most 
trivial infraction of discipline is an assault upon our 
existence, and as he loves the society let him avoid viola- 
tion of rule, and prevent it." 

The second rule provides that only such books are to be 
read " as shall be approved of by the spiritual director" 
({. e. the priest), and the tenth provides, that without his 
consent, " no new rules can be adopted, and no act is 
validly performed which is performed against his con- 
sent," illustrating in the first place, the mental slavery 
which every member of these guilds must submit to, and, 
in the second place, the supreme prerogative asserted 
by the priest. 

Of the special rules of the guilds, the first describes 
the mode in which the Church of Rome carries out this 
part of her scheme : 

"Each brotherhood is divided into guilds oi fifty ^ and 
when any of such guilds rises to one hundred mem- 
bers, it is sub-divided into two, the last fifty on the list 
being formed into a new guild. The guild that first 
rises to the number required for sub-division should have 
the first place in the ' Young Men's Societies' general 
meetings, — ' Honor to whom honor is due !' — and every 
succeeding guild, also, as it manifests its energy, by 
enlisting the highest number (100) which a guild can 



272 The Guilds of Ireland. 

contain, should have its place in regular order after the 
guild that has last been divided into two. The new 
guilds should keep their place according to the date of 
their formation. The punctuality with which this rule 
is observed w^ill determine the success of the ' Young 
Men's Society.' " 

The sixth and eighth describe the manner of getting 
new members and the raising of funds : 

" Each guild shall appoint a standing committee of two, 
to assist the wardens and canvass for postulants, to be 
associated with the holy guilds." 

*' The wardens of the guilds shall collect the weekly 
contribution, mark the cards and hand the money to the 
secretary." 

The general meetings, "for the reception of members, 
are held every Sabbath evening," — strange Sabbath 
work ! — when, among other things, a hymn is sung, of 
which the following is a stanza: 

" Faith of our fathers I Mary's prayers 
Shall win our country back to thee, 
And through the truth that comes from God, 
England shall then indeed be free 1 
Faith of our fathers 1 holy faith, 
We wiU be true to thee till death !" 

Charged with this instruction, the Irish come to 
America, ready to unite with ardor in any secret plot or 
association that the bishop or priest may direct for holy 
Mother Church. 



CHAPTER XII 



THE WEALTH OF THE KOMISH CHUKCH. 



The means used to acquire Money — Church Property in England — How held in 
the United States — Secret Councils — Acts to set the Laws of the Country at Defi- 
ance — ^The practical Result— A Buffalo Laity— Switzerland injured by Jesuits- 
Enormous increase of the Papists in the U. S.— Their immense Wealth— Church- 
yards— Heretics denied a Burial—John Huss and Jerome — WickliflTe — Henry 
five years nnburied — New York Schools of the Jesuits — Church Property in 
Mexico — How the Priests-extort Money from the Dying — The Illinois Catho- 
lics and the Canada Priests — Cathedrals in America — Coronation of a Heathen 
Goddess— Indulgence granted— The Telegraph and the Pope— What it all 
means. 



Public attention has within the past few years been 
called to the enormous accumulation of real estate by the 
Roman Catholic hierarchy in this country, and upon in- 
quiry, it is found the same policy is practised here which 
has distinguished the Roman Catholic prelacy in Eng- 
land. Long before the government of the United States 
existed, the bishops and monks were acquiring a title to 
the landed estate of Great Britain. They used all means 
to procure a devise or grant from a person on a death- 
bed, "for the good of the church," and recourse was had 
to every other method for obtaining property. This 
wealth the priesthood retained for the holy see, the bishop- 
ric, or the monasteries. Thus absorbing the landed 
estate, they used their wealth to acquire temporal power 
and authority. The British people at that time were 
well disposed towards the Romish church, and belonge4 

(273) 



274 Wealth of the Romilh Church. 

to it, but they began to see that the priestly influence 
was gaining an ascendancy which they felt was becoming 
dangerous to their interests. They, therefore, passed an 
act of parliament to prevent the Romish ecclesiastics 
from receiving grants and bequests of real estate. These 
Romish priests, true Jesuits, controlled the courts so far 
as to evade the law, by inventing the system of " uses " 
and "trusts," whereby one man held land for another 
man's benefit. Parliament passed new laws, but the art- 
ful priests managed to set them all at defiance, and went 
on, as usual, until the time of Henry VIII. — the dawn of 
the Reformation, when a statute was enacted, that effec- 
tually prevented any land grants in such manner for a 
period of more than twenty years, and since then Eng- 
land has had this evil reduced. There was no spirit of 
persecution in all this; but an essential movement of 
the people to prevent the priesthood from acquiring 
unjust temporal power. It was absolutely necessary to 
protect the lay members of the church, and securing to 
them the property for which they paid their money. 

!N"ow, in the United States, where the British law of 
Henry YIII. (prohibiting ecclesiastics from holding the 
property of the laymen) is also our common law, we 
find the Romish prelates the absolute owners of the 
whole church property, the real estate, buildings, burial 
grounds, etc., etc. ; and claiming so to own and control, 
as to have the power to turn a congregation out of 
doors and shut up any church whenever they see fit to 
do so. The immense increase of wealth, by these means, 
alarmed England, even when Roman Catholic ; how 
much greater should be the fears of Protestant America. 
When charters of incorporations are granted by the civil 
power, they have to be expressly authorised to hold real 



Wealth of the Rom i ill Church. 275 

estate, and tben the amount is limited by the legis-ature, 
in order to prevent the acquisition of a power thought 
to be dangerous to the welfare of the people. But the 
Roman Catholic bishops — the deadly foes to our primi- 
ples and institutions, who are aiming by every possible 
means to betray us — are exempted fioni th^ wise and 
salutary laws which control the state! Why is this? 
The legislatures of some few of the states have been pe- 
titioned by the Catholic lavrnen for power to control the 
property of the church ; and in New York and Connec- 
ticut, laws have been passed, placing Roman C.itholic 
citizens uj^on an entire equality with eveiy Protestant 
sect. 

A very important feature in the Roman Catholic action 
in this country, is, their stated provincial councils, which 
are held in secret, whose trapsactions are in the Latin 
language, so that they may be kept from the people, 

As far back as the year 1829, the hierarchy determined 
to pervert the system of allowing the trustees, chosen by 
the laity, to control the church property. In that year, 
the council of Bishops assembled in Baltimore, on the 
1st of October, and passed the following ordinance : 
" Whereas lay trustees have frequently abused the right 
(jure) granted to them by the civil authority, to the 
great detriment of religion and scandal of the faithful, 
we most earnestly desire, that in future, no church be 
erected or consecrated, unless it be assigned by a written 
instrument to the bishop, in whose diocese it is to be 
erected for divine worship, and the use of the faithful, 
whenever this can be done." Approved by Gregory 
XVI., October 16, 1830. 

This suggestion by the bishops did not meet the sanc- 
tion of the laity at that time, and things went on as 



276 Wealth of the Romifli Church. 

before. But in 1849, at the seventh provincial council, 
held in Baltimore, the college of bishops adopted this 
decree : " Art. 4. The Fathers ordain, that all churches 
and all other ecclesiastical property which have been ac- 
quired by donations or the offerings of the faithful, for 
religious or charitable use, belong to the bishop of the 
diocese ; unless it shall be made to appear, and be con- 
firmed by writings, that it was granted to some religious 
order of monks, or to some congregation of priests for 
their use." 

Here is the bold declaration that the right of property 
in the Romish churches of the United States, is vested in 
the bishops. This decree, it was supposed, under the at- 
mosphere of their sacred council, would bring the trustees 
of the several states to their feet ; but the " civil author- 
ity" was too powerful ! The council again assembled at 
Baltimore, in 1852, and passed a third ordinance in their 
council, which particularly affects the liberties of Ameri- 
can citizens. Its 16th section reads thus : 

" Whereas the things given to God for the use of divine 
worship and works of charity, come under control of the 
church, whose duty it is to see that the pious will of the 
donors be faithfully executed; and whereas the sacred 
canons have often defended them against the usurpations 
of laymen, we strictly forbid the interference of lay- 
men, in the administration of those things, without the 
free consent of the bishops. Hence, not called to this 
by the bishop, they usurp them, convert them to their 
own use, or whatsoever manner they may be, frustrate 
or defraud the will of tlie donors, or if they try to 
wrest out of the bishop's hands, the things committed 
to his trust and care, even by means of the laws, we 
define and declare that they fall, ipso factOy under the 



Wealth of the Romifli Church. 



277 



punishment inflicted by the fathers in the Council of 
Trent (Sessions 22, chap. xi. De Reformatione,) on the 
usurpers of ecclesiastical property." 

The punishment here threatened is no less than that 
of excommunication. It declares that the party ** Shall 
be under an anathema, until he shall have wholly re- 
stored to the church or to the administrator or benefices 
thereof, the jurisdictions, property, effects, rights, fruits 
and revenues which he has seized, or in whatever way 
they have come to him, even by way of gift of a super- 
stitious person, and until he shall have furthermore ob- 
tained absolution from the Koraan pontiff." — (Council of 
Trent, p. 170.) 

" Even by the means of the laws !" says this Baltimore 
ordinance of 1852, " Any person who should withhold 
from the bishops the property of the Church, even Avith 
the aid of the laws, shall suffer excommunication ! The 
mere reading of this ordinance — ^which can be found only 
iu Latin, in the Catholic book stores of the country — is 
enough, we should think, to satisfy the most sceptical 
that the Romish hierarchy claims supremacy over the 
civil laws of every country, and particularly of the 
United States, at this present time. 

Thomas Aquinas, a favorite author of Romanists, says : 
*'That it is necessary for salvation to submit to the Ro- 
man Pontiff;" "that the pope, as supreme king of all 
the world, may impose taxes on all Christians, and de- 
stroy cities and castles to preserve Christianity." He 
adds, " that the pope is the summit of both powers, and 
when any one is denounced as excommunicated for 
apostacy, his subjects are immediately freed from his 
dominion and their oath of allegiance to him."* 

* Bell. V. 1-5. Thomas II. Secund. ques. 12, art. 2. 



I'S Wealth of the Romifli Church. 

Bellarmine declares it to be the common opinion of 
Roman Catholics, " that the pope, by reason of his 
spiritual power, has, at least indirectly, a supreme power, 
even in temporal affairs." Baronius, the historian of the 
pontificate, says : " The civil principality is undoubtedly 
subjected to the sacerdotal, and that God has subjected 
the political government to the dominion of the Church," 
and " they are all branded as heretics who take from the 
Church of Rome and See of Peter, one of the two swords, 
and allow only the spiritual."* 

The Council of Trent decreed thus : " The pope is 
prince over all nations, kingdoms, etc." Cardinal Zaba 
tells us : " The pope can do all things, and is empowered 
by God to do many things, which He (God) himself can- 
not possibly perform!" 

The present pope follows the doctrine of the learn .'d 
Bellarmine, and prefers, for the time, to defer the direct 
exercise of his temporal dominion in the United States, 
and to work indirectly and secretly, until he shall accom- 
plish greater political results ! In 1809, the pope issued his 
anathema against the emperor Xapoleon, and virtually 
absolved all his subjects from their allegiance to the 
throne of France. In 1794, the Council of Pistoia ap- 
proved the declaration of the French clergy, that the 
pope had no power to depose kings, or absolve subjects, 
thus clearly showing the pope claimed this power ; and 
in 1851, the pope anathematized a book written to refute 
the doctrine that he (the pope) had a right over temporal 
things. 

"In July of that year, 1851, Pius IX. excommunicated 
the king and parliament of Sardinia, and declared a law 

* BeU. V. 1. Baronius, anno 57, § 23, 53. lb. anno 1053, § 14. 
Haeresi, Politic, anno 1073, § 13. 



Wealth of the Romifli Church. 



279 



null and void, which the government had passed to sup- 
press monastic and religious communities, colleges and 
churches, etc., and placing the revenues and property in 
the hands of the civil power. In Spain, in the same 
month (July, 1851), the government passed a church pro- 
perty law, and forbade bishops to confer holy orders, 
which law the pope abrogated, and declared it null and 
void.* 

These authorities are sufficient to prove the power 
which the Roman hierarchy claim at this day in the 
United States ; but we will give one from the organ of 
the Archbishop of the province of New York. The 
Jesuit prelate is said to be the real, though not the 
ostensible editor of The Freeman'' s Journal. The fol- 
lowing extract we find published in 1853 : " The Pope of 
Rome has supreme authority over every diocese and 
over every square foot of surface on this globe. His 
rights are circumscribed only by the ends of the earth 
and the consummation of ages." Hence, the pope has 
partitioned our country into eight provinces, and placed 
over each a bishop, only requiring a cardinal to complete 
the most potent engine of evil that ever existed on the 
face of the earth ! 

Let us see, now, what has been the practical eftect of 
the Romish ordinance on the church property question. 
The Catholic laity resisted it in New Orleans, in Buffiilo, 
and in New York. It was to settle the latter case that 
the nuncio Bedini was ostensibly sent by the pope in 
1854 ; but the trustees and laity remained firm, and they 
were excommunicated ! The Catholics appealed to the 
New York Legislature, and prayed that Protestant as- 
sembly to relieve them from the oppression. They asked 

* North American Review, for Jan., 1856. 



28o Wealth of the Romifti Church. 

that they might be confirmed in their right, to keep their 
own property out of the hands of the bishop and his succes- 
sors. The result was the passage of the celebrated Church 
Tenure Bill, which reiterated the law of 1783, adding, that 
when a bishop held the property of a congregation, and 
died without passing it to the trustees, it became the pro- 
perty of the State, to be held in trust for the congregation, 
and returned to them the moment they elected trustees. 
In the debate on the bill, Hon. Erastus Brooks remarked, 
that Archbishop Hughes probably held property in his 
own right to the amount of 825,000,000 in the city of 
'New York. The archbishop flatly denied the fact, and 
challenged Mr. Brooks to the proof! He said it was all 
*' God's property !" Mr. Brooks went to the office of 
Registry, and copied the records, and published the 
statement of what he found, and thereby accomplished 
the most triumphant rindication of the truth he had 
asserted. 

Switzerland, Protestant and republican Switzerland, 
could not escape the jealousy of surrounding despotisms 
in Europe. The Romish power stole into her boundaries, 
to subvert her liberal institutions. The Jesuits sneaked 
into citizenship and obtained the right to vote, created 
dissension and civil insurrection, and, in the name of " the 
Church," secured an ascendancy in the cantons, and held 
the Diet in awe, till they were finally driven out of the 
country, in 1847, at the point of the bayonet ! The same 
course is persistently being pursued in our country by the 
Jesuits. Look for a moment at the increasing numerical 
extent of the Romish Church in the United States ! Fifty 
years ago there was in this whole country one Roman 
Catholic diocese, two bishops, sixty-eight priests, eight 
churches, two ecclesiastical institutions, one college and 



Wealth of the Romifli Church. 281 

two female academies. At that time the entire popula- 
tion of the country was less than seven millions. Had the 
Catholic Church only kept pace with the progress of the 
population, we should have had this day four dioceses, 
eight bishops, two hundred and seventy-two priests, three 
hundred and twenty churches, eight .ecclesiastical institu- 
tions, four colleges and eight female academies. Instead 
of this, we find in the single diocese of New York they 
have more than doubled. 

In the entire United States, instead of four dioceses 
(which a proportionate increase would have given) there 
are forty-one ; instead of eight bishops, there are thirty- 
nine, and two apostolic vicars ; instead of two hundred 
and seventy-two priests, there are eighteen hundred and 
seventy-two ; instead of three hundred and twenty 
churches, there are two thousand and fifty-three, besides 
eight hundred and, twenty-nine stations; instead of eight 
ecclesiastical institutions, there are thirty-five ; instead of 
four colleges, there are twenty-nine ; and instead of eight 
female academies, there are a hundred and thirty-four. 
In other words, taking the number of priests and of 
churches as a basis of computation, the Catholic church 
has increased within the last half century, seven times as 
fast as the population ! 

How is this progress to be explained ? The pope of 
Rome says, " Freedom of conscience is an absurd and 
dangerous maxim," and " the liberty of the press is the 
fatal license of which we cannot entertain too great 
a horror." The Church holds the conscience of its sub- 
jects in the United States, and by its confessional, repels 
every sentiment of freedom, and exterminates it. In 
this way it seizes the right of suffrage; it annuls our 
statutes by its councils ; it parcels our territory into 



282 Wealth of the Romiih Church. 

provinces, and enforces its irrevocable decrees, through 
the agency of its secret spiritual police. It is the Roman 
Catholic church which has fomented discord among Pro- 
testants, and courted them through Jesuits, until they have 
controlled thousands, who are unconsciously in their snare. 
"While the moment a member of the Roman Catholic 
church is suspected of entertaining freedom of opinion, 
he disappears, or is found to have died by some mysteri- 
ous violence. 

The pope of Rome is, to-day, the greatest millionaire 
in America ! He wields a power over the temporal 
affairs of this Union, and grasps wealth far greater than 
belongs to our government. 

He binds these millions in perpetual mortmain, to be 
held in obedience to his single will ! The church of St. 
Louis, in their petition to the Xew York legislature, said, 
"For simply refusing to violate the trust law of our 
State, we have been subjected to the form of excommu- 
nication, and our names held up to infamy and reproach. 
To our members the holy rites of baptism and burial 
have been denied. The marriage sacrament refused. 
The priest is forbidden to minister at our altars. In 
sickness and at the hour of death the holy consolations 
of religion are withheld." 

The increase of wealth has been in proportion to the 
increase of numbers, and the resources for its accumula- 
tion have no limit in the United States. 

Three years ago, at a Roman convention held at 
Buffalo, it was stated that the wealth owned by the 
Roman Catholics in this country, and deposited in differ- 
ent Savings-Banks, amounted to the enormous sum of 
forty-eight millions of dollars ! The property of the 
Jesuit-schools, nunneries, seminaries, colleges, etc., in the 



Wealth of the Romifh Church. 283 

city of New York alone, according to their statis- 
tics published in one of the city journals, January, 1858, 
amounts to about two millions of dollars ! 

The *' Calvary Cemetery," controlled by the archbishop, 
on Long Island, covers eighty acres ; and at the bishop's 
rate of the prices for burying, will amount to one million 
two hundred thousand dollars.* 

Rome has ever had large revenues from the grave- 

* The avaricious character of the Roman Catholic hierarchy for 
■wealth and power, is illustrated in the history of the Council of Trent, 
by Paulo Sarpi Veneto, published in 1620. Before the Council con- 
cluded its sitting, the pope was urged, by France, to grant the cup in 
communion. This subject, with the use of the vulgar tongue in the 
service of the church, and the marriage of the priests, were discussed 
in a Consistory held by the pope, A.D. 1561. Cardinal Pio di Carpi 
opposed all these measures, and urged that " to grant the cup, would 
open a gate to demand an abrogation of all positive constitutions by 
which, only the prerogative given by Christ to the church of Rome, is 
preserved for those which are " de jure divino," no profit doth accrue 
but that which is spiritual. For the use of the vulgar tongue in the 
service, the inconvenience would follow, that all would think them- 
selves divine ; the authority of prelates would be disesteemed, and all 
would be heretics. From the marriage of priests it would ensue, 
" that having house, wife, and children, they will not depend upon the 
pope, but on their prince ; and the love of their children will make 
them yield to any prejudice of the church. They will seek to make 
their benefices hereditary, and so in short space the authority of the 
Apostolic See will be confined to Rome. Before single life was insti- 
tuted, the See of Rome received no profit from other nations and cities, 
and by it, is made patron of many benefices, of which marriage would 
quickly deprive her." For these reasons the pope refused the request 
of France. This history also informs us, that the pope having, through 
the Jesuits and his legates and bishops, the control of the Council of 
Trent, and the sole power of originating measures, prevented the 
reform in the church in these and other particulars, and subsequently 
rewarded with nch benefices the bishops most useful to him, in the 
Council 



284 Wealth of the Romifli Church. 

yard. It is, indeed, a vital portion of the papal imposture 
to make it ignominious to repose in any but the ground 
which the Catholics consecrate. The canon law of this 
church prohibits the burial of " heretics," at all ! In this 
way spiritual obedience was enforced, and Europe go- 
verned, for several centuries before the Protestant 
Reformation. Just before the dawn of that glorious era 
in England, a man, named Tracy, was accused of having 
expressed heretical views in his will, he was found guilty 
and his body was immediately dug up by order of a 
commission issued for the purpose ! 1 Burns Eccl. Law, 
266. 

Soon after the Norman conquests, the Roman See 
began the exercise of its power, in holding the exclusive 
possession of the dead, and in deciding who only should 
lie in their consecrated earth. At the same time deny- 
ing to those excommunicated, the right of burial in any 
other earth. The formula of the tenth century gave 
these cast-off corpses " to the fowls of the air or beasts 
of the field." 

John Huss, and Jerome of Prague were burned at 
the stake in the fifteenth century, by order of the Council 
of Constance, and their ashes were not allowed to mingle 
with earth, but were thrown into the Rhine. If by 
chance any suspected of heresy found a grave, they were 
instantly taken up and their ashes treated as those of 
heretics freshly burned. 

Wicklifte, the first English translator of the Bible, had 
dared to question certain dogmas of the papal theologyy 
but dying in his bed in 1384, he was buried in a church- 
yard in Leicestershire, and remained for forty-one years. 
But being afterwards judicially condemned for heresy,- 
his bones were dug up and burnt, and his ashes cast inter 



J 



Wealth of the Romifti Church. 285 

the river Avon, in the year 1425, of the Christian era. 
This practice of the Romish church was confined to no 
particular class of men. 

Henry the fourth, Emperor of Germany, after being 
the victor of more than sixty battles, died under an ex- 
communication of Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII., and 
for five years his body was compelled to lie unburied in 
sight of the majestic Cathedral of Spires, which his own 
father commenced, and he had finished ! From the year 
1207 to 1213, Pope Innocent III., kept out of their law- 
ful graves all the dead, from the channel of the Tweed. 
No funeral bell was allowed to toll ; the corpses were 
thrown like hogs into ditches, and the marriage ceremony 
was obliged to be solemnized in the church-yard. 

Look around over your cities and country towns, and the 
far West. Take for example the City of N"ew York. Look 
at the statistics : sixty or seventy schools, seminaries, 
and colleges, with their three hundred and twenty Jesuits 
and Jesuitesses for teachers, with the vast sums of money 
amounting to one million nine hundred and forty-eight 
thousand dollars^ according to statistics made, as we un- 
derstand, under the supervision of the priests. But 
these are only their operations in New York. What 
then must be the whole amount of their machinery at 
work in our other large cities, inland towns, and districts 
of country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific ? 

In California, the Romish archbishop Alemany, has 
become sole possessor of all the landed property be- 
longing to the church at the time of the treaty of Guad- 
alupe Hidalgo, now valued at an enormous amount. All 
the church buildings, ranches, grave-yards, etc., are 
included ! 

" People often wonder where all the money comes from 



286 Wealth of the Romifti Church. 

employed by the Roman Catholics in building the splendid 
chapels, cathedrals, priests' -houses, colleges, nunneries, 
et hoc genus omne^ while the occupants all plead poverty. 
The priests, for instance, whose usual answer to an ap- 
peal on the score of charity, is, "I live on charity 
myself." People are beginning to find the phenomena 
accounted for. 

The great secret of Rome is this : Money to send out 
missionaries to all parts of the world, and missionaries to 
send back money. Where does it come from ? Who 
maintains the Court of Rome, with all its cupidity, lust of 
power and crime ? We tell you it comes fromforeign parts. 
In return for this money and protection, what does Rome 
give ? Her indulgences and quackeries ! The Protest- 
ants as well as Romanists swell the cofiers of the Popish 
Church in the United States. How willingly Ameii- 
cans are seduced to furnish the instruments of power 
which are surely to be ultimately used against them- 
selves. 

To build the splendid cathedrals in the United States, 
especially in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Albany, Cleveland 
and Buffalo the people were fined. The Irish Catholic 
population of New York paid at the rate of one dollar 
per capita. Dr. Duff states, that the superintendent of 
the Erie Railroad assured him that throughout a tract of 
one hundred and twenty miles, the Irish Catholic laborers 
paid nearly twenty-two thousand dollars for this purpose, 
into the hands of their bishop. 

The coronation of pictures and exposure of saints' 
bones, is becoming another fruitful source of raising 
money in our country ! Who would have thought that 
such heathe?iish sights as the coronation of a pagan god- 
dess would ever occur in our Protestant country, and 



Wealth of the Romifh Church. 287 

that, too, on the Sabbath ! This scenic performance oc- 
curred in June, 1858, at Hoboken, "New Jersey, after 
being duly announced by Archbishop Hughes' organ. 
Two years before, in the same church, there was a 
similar Sunday entertainment for the " faithful,'' in en- 
shrining the bones of their saint Quietus, which they 
pretended were sent from Rome. An important feature 
in the last exhibition of this sort was, that the pope 
granted his plenary indulgence to all who should attend 
that day ! and the archbishop, as if to show still further 
contempt for the laws and institutions of our country, 
granted " forty days' indulgence to all persons who should 
visit that picture during the octave !" 

A plenary indulgence in the Romish church means 
that an individual is thereby placed above the penalties 
of sin. The Romish doctrine is, that " indulgence is the 
remission of all sins, and that God is not allowed to 
punish after they ha,ve granted an indulgence,^"* 

Such an exercise of absolutism as this, demands the 
serious and immediate consideration of the people of the 
United States. A bishop can grant indulgence for one 
hundred years — an archbishop for four hundred years I 
according to their rules. 

A few weeks since, one hundred and three thousand 
dollars were subscribed for a grand cathedral to be erected 
in the city of New York — three thousand dollars more 
than was even asked ! Two thousand of this sum was 
the donation of Protestants (heretics), " who wanted to 
see a Romish edifice erected on American soil to cor- 
respond with the architectural beauty of those in popish 
countries !" Deluded men, unsuspecting, tolerant Chris- 
tians ! 

At the call of the archbishop, upwards of seventy 



288 Wealth of the Romifti Church. 

thousand Catholics, vaostlj foreign Irish^ rallied by " so- 
cieties" and " congregations," headed by their priests, to 
the spot where the corner-stone was laid. By the pre- 
late's order, each of these had opportunity given to leave 
an offering of money on the stone.* 

Pitrat, who challenged archbishop Hughes to deny 
his facts, says, " When a child is born the priests call 
for money. The children who are admitted for the 
first time to communion, bring us money ; they marry, 
bring us money ; they die, and their friends pay us for 
the passport which we deliver to them, and pay us for 
the right to weep for them. When " mass " is said for 
souls in purgatory, they pay us money. Without money, 
no prayers, no masses, no baptism. K a chapter is read 
over the head of your children, bring us money. Money 
to throw water on the cattle, sheep, goats, pigs ; to bless 
the tables, chairs, and the articles of furniture, money ; 
to bless carriages, wagons, cellars, stables, houses — bring 
us money. They say to us, * Build us splendid and ma- 
jestic churches, adorn our sanctuaries with fine marble 
and handsome carving, with statues, pictures, ciboriums. 
Purchase us sacerdotal ornaments, with silk tissued, silver 
and gold, shining with embroideries and pearls. Bring 
us money for all these purposes, and chiefly for our own 
use." 

In England, excommunication had to be made penjil, 
and the payment of Peter's-pence stopped, and the 
church property sequestrated, when, as Lord Hard- 
wicke says, it had absorbed more than half of England. 
France, Spain and Sardinia had to take similar proceed- 
ings. In Mexico, not long since, when President Comon- 

* "We have heard of poor Irish servants who gave a month's wages 
to this work. 



Wealth of the Romifli Church. 289 

fort confiscated tlie property of the priesthood, they had 
forty-one millions on deposit. 

We well know that science and progress are in hostility 
to the spirit and letter of the Roman Catholic system, and 
it is a subject to be well considered that Archbishop 
Hughes has become a stockholder in the ocean telegraph ! 
In other words, the Pope of Rome is a stockholder in 
the telegraph ! for Archbishop Hughes, like every Jesuit, 
has again and again declared, that he is not w^orth the 
bed on which he sleeps, and that all the Church's pro- 
perty is God's property, that means, the Pope's, who 
" is to him in the place of God !" Now, is it not a 
most remarkable fact that Pope Pius IX. should be hold- 
ing stock in a company of heretics ! It is no longer 
strange to us, since we see that the Romish Church thus 
obtains monied interest that she may augment her 
power the more effectually. A year ago, the organ of 
the Archbishop of J^ew York intimated quite as much as 
we have shown. 

It is true, numerically. Protestantism is yet far in the 
ascendant, but the Romish Church is foimd in every 
country and island of the habitable globe. Not only 
the priesthood, but the laity are equally at the com- 
mand of the pope. He summons whom he pleases to 
Rome, and he is there ! "What could be more feasible 
than to form a combination throughout the Catholic 
world, and, like Napoleon I., concentrate upon any given 
point in the United States ? With such oaths and such 
a discipline as belongs to the Jesuits — which we present 
in this volume — we have no guarantee against any con- 
certed action or aggression, should any such outbreak be 
deemed expedient by our opponents ; for we have no 
such secret associations as theirs. 
13 



CHAPTER XIII. 

BEDINI'S MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES. 

His object to establish the Inquisition— Eight of Church Property— Letter of the 
Pope to this Government — Cardinal Antonelli—The Italian's Letter— Bassi'a 
Death— Gajani's Lecture. 

The principal object of this mission was the question 
between the Trustees of the Church of St. Louis, in 
Buffalo, and their Bishop, respecting the administration 
of the revenues of that church. The Bishop claimed that 
the administration of that church, like that of all others 
in his diocese, should be in his hands, and entirely at his 
disposal, according to the canon-law of Rome. The Trus- 
tees claimed that the administration was only in their 
hands, according to the civil-laws of the State of New 
York. The Bishop had excommunicated the Trustees 
and interdicted the church ; and the Trustees, in agree- 
ment with the principal members of the church, threat- 
ened to separate themselves from the Bishop's com- 
munion ; therefore, a legate of tlie Pope was necessary 
to settle this question. It is a principle, vital to the Ro- 
man church, that the administration of the revenues of 
ecclesiastical property be in the hands of the Bishops, to 
be at the disposition of Rome; and they esteem it a 
great scandal that in the United States of America the 
secular laws interfere in that matter, and effect a diver- 
sion. On this occasion, the Nuncio Bedini was charged 
[290j 



Bedini's MifTion. 291 

to treat with the authorities of the government at Wash- 
ington to obtain favors for the holy see, beginning with 
the installation of an apostolical nunciature, on the same 
footing as that in the Low Countries, with the privilege 
of an ecclesiastical court for matrimonial cases, and other 
things, denominated " of mixed jurisdiction." That ec- 
clesiastical court, which is usually mentioned in credential 
letters, and is to be acknowledged by the same authority 
which is acknowledging the accredited representative 
person, is announced as " a court of spiritual affairs," and 
it is nothing else, in plain terms, than the Inquisition 
itself. A nuncio, established in this manner, becomes 
head of the inquisition, which operates by means of the 
Jesuits, with all secrecy, and has for its object the promo- 
tion of the interests of the church — this is the meaning of 
the motto in the coat of arms of the Jesuits, " Ad majorem 
Dei Gloriam" — by persecuting in every possible manner 
the real enemies of Rome, and favoring, as far as possible, 
her real friends. Real enemies are understood to be those 
who really do and intend to do her harm ; and real friends 
are those who are disposed to do her good. Some Catho- 
lics are sometimes considered enemies, and some Pro- 
testants friends. On Protestant friends favors are most 
largely bestowed, the favors received from them being 
paid a- hundred-fold. 

Bedini presented to Protestants precious rings, brooches 
and snuff-boxes with diamonds; while to Catholics he gave 
indulgences and pontifical dispensatioiis. 

Their friends, in particular ways, are introduced and 
highly recommended for any kind of employment, and 
very often, through their mighty exertions, accommo- 
dated with public offices ; at the elections, the vote of 
the Roman Catholics, (especially the Irish,) which is in 



292 Bedini's Million. 

tbe hands of the Bishop, is given to those who in any 
manner have shown favor and inclination to the Roman 
Catholics. 

The Nuncio corresponds with the inquisition. 

IfBedinihad found decided favor in Washington, ns 
had been promised him by L. Cass, Jun., in Rome ; and 
if the cry of the Italians had not been raised against him 
as the murderer of that eminent patriot, Ugo Bassi ; in 
short, if his mission had had a successful issue, he, Bedini, 
would have been the first Apostolic Nuncio in the United 
States ; and God knows what his intentions and aspira- 
tions were against the very palladium of liberty, our 
Bible, and our Constitution, he might have achieved 
against our civil and religious liberties. We do neither 
know what were his secret instructions, but his mis- 
sion, as everybody knows, having ended badly, he so 
far compromised the interest of the holy see in this 
country, that, on his return to Rome, he was set aside 
wdth an office of no consideration, and without any hope 
of promotion to the cardinalate, at least, for the present. 

We will now" introduce the curious state documents 
from Rome, in connection with this Nuncio. 

Note. — The priest of each parish in Rome, notes : " 1st. The residence, 
street, number, and story, occupied by each parishioner. 2d. His 
name, family and baptismal, and place of birth. 3d. His rank, whether 
noble or not, tradesman, student, -workman, &c. 4th. Whether mar- 
ried, bachelor or widower, &c. 5th. If a stranger, we must indicate 
how long a resident of Rome, and how long he has lived in the parish. 
6th. Where he lived before cojning here. 7th. What sacraments he 
has received, and if that is not sufficient, observe that there is a blank 
space to write down other observations." " The same is done with 
Protestants, except we indicate them especially as Protestants. Besides, 
every year we must denounce to the ecclesiastical board and to the po- 
lice aU Protestants living within our parish." — De Sanctis. 



Bedini's Miffion. 



^93 



CARDINAL AXTOXELLI TO MR. MARCY. 

Excellency : — Monsignor Gastoni Bedini, Archbishop 
of Thebes, appointed by the Holy Father as Apostolic 
Nuncio to the Empire of Brazil, has been directed to re- 
pair to the United States, and under such circumstance 
to compliment the honorable President in the name of 
his Holiness. This prelate being endowed with the most 
brilliant qualities of heart and mind, was well deserving 
of this distinguished commission from the Holy Father, 
I beg, therefore, that your Excellency will be pleased to 
receive him in that kindness of spirit which is character- 
istic of your disposition, and to extend to him whatever 
assistance he may need. Your favor will be the more 
necessary to him to flicilitate his being kindly received 
by the President, to whom he is to present a Pontifical 
letter. I venture to flatter myself that you wull respond 
to my request, especially in consideration of the object in 
view ; and with this hope I have the honor to tender you 
the assurance of my distinguished consideration, 
Your Excellency's lantroveno, 

(Signed) G. A. Antoxelli. 

Rome, March 31st, 1853. 

To his Excellency the Minister of Foreign Relations, 
Washington. 

Pius IX. To the President of the United States. 
Pius IX. Pope. 

Illustrious and Honored Sir. 
Greeting : 

As our venerable brother Caxelamus, Archbishop of 
Thebes, accredited as our Envoy in Ordinary and Nuncio 
of the Apostolic See near the Imperial Court of Brazil, 
has been directed by us to visit those regions^ (the 



294 Bedini's Million. 

United States,) we have at the same time especially 
charged him to present himself in our name before your 
Excellency, and to deliver into your hands these our let- 
ters, together with many salutations, and to express to 
you, in the warmest language, the sentiments we enter- 
tain towards you, which he will testify. We take it for 
granted that these friendly demonstrations on our part 
will be agreeable to you, and least of all do we doubt 
but that the aforesaid venerable brother, a man eminently 
distinguished for the sterling qualities of mind and heart 
which characterize him, will be kindly received by your 
Excellency ; and inasmuch as toe have been eiitrusted by 
Divine commission with the care of the Lord^s JiocJc 
THEOTJGHOUT THE woKLD, we cannot allow this opportu- 
nity to pass without earnestly entreating you to extend 
jonx p7'otection to the Catholics inhabiting those eegioxs, 
and to shield them at all times with your power and au- 
thority. Feeling confident that your Excellency will 
very willingly accede to our wishes and grant our re- 
quests, we will not fail to offer up our humble supplica- 
tions to Almighty God that he may bestow upon you, 
illustrious and honored sir, the gift of his heavenly grace, 
that he may shower upon you every kind of blessing, and 
unite us in the bonds of perfect charity. 

Given at Rome, from the Vatican, March 31st, 1853, 
the seventh of our Pontificate. 

(Signed) Pius IX., Pope. 

These are exact copies of the letters transmitted to the 
United States Senate, and on file, numbered (55) in the 
State department, bearing date ICth March, and received 
on the 18th April, 1854. 

Mark this language of the Pope ! " And inasmuch as 



Bedini's Miffion. 295 

we have been entrusted with the Lord's flock through- 
out the world, ' extend ' your protection to the Catholics 
inhabiting those regions !" What a shame that the 
Lord's flock should be exposed by their residence in the 
heathenish regions — (the United States of America) — 
should need that " protection" be extended over them, 
that they may be enabled to live among heretical Ameri- 
cans — stubborn republicans, who, not acknowledging a 
State church in papal Rome, have no power exerted to 
interfere between them and their Creator and Preserver. 
How studiously does the Pope protect American Pro- 
testant citizens at Rome, who cannot utter a sentiment 
of liberty, or be seen with a Bible, or allowed to have 
one in their possession, while their poor bodies are de- 
nied the rite of burial ! 

Bedini is represented in this correspondence with our 
government as *' brilliant in heart and mind.'* Bedini ! 
the famous assassin of more than 300 patriots at Bo- 
logna, and the cruel and infamous torturer of delicate 
women. Among the most atrocious and horrible execu-^ 
tions of which this Nuncio was guilty, that of the patriot 
Ugo Bassi is prominent. 

In 1844, the eloquent Bassi exclaimed in a moment of 
enthusiasm, " God gave all men as a great gift, the Holy 
Bible. Faith is the only means of safety." He was 
taken to Rome for this, and imprisoned. During the 
revolution in 1849, he was liberated, and entered the 
army as a chaplain. He was then seized by the Austrians 
while assisting a dying soldier, and sent to Bologna; 
being a monk, they did not kill him. Bedini was there, 
as the Pope's Extraordinary Commissioner, and immedi- 
ately doomed Bassi to die. But he was a priest, and 
before butchering him, it was necessary, under the canon 



296 Bedini's Miffion. 

law of Rome to impriest him. This ceremony is a 
very terrible one. The sufferer is brought into a church 
hung, with black tapestry, the windows of which are 
darkened. Black candles are burning, and the prelate 
or inquisitor is also dressed in black. The priests proceed 
to tear from the victim the robes and priestly dress, pro- 
noimcing upon him the curses which are found in the 
Pope's ritual book. They then skin the palms, fore- 
fingers, and thumb, of both hands, and the top of the 
head ! To this condition poor Bassi was reduced, and 
then pushed to the door of the church, and given into 
the hands of the ferocious executioner. These Austrian 
ruffians in three hours after, shot him, by the order of 
Bedini ; who had thus divested him of his sacred charac- 
ter. When the priests standing around offered to confess 
him, Bassi replied : — " I will have only my God to assist 
me, you are imposters." 

Two graves were dug in a deserted spot, outside of 
Bologna. An imposing military force kept off the 
horror-stricken citizens. A dead silence reigned. On a 
sudden it was broken by the sound of a distant coach, 
driven furiously, which entered the square formed by the 
soldiery. It was an awful moment. Bassi and his friend 
Laviraghi descended from the coach. Ugowas pale, but 
his countenance seemed lighted up by the glorious mar- 
tyrdom which awaited him. He walked in composure to 
the side of his grave, and raising his dark, eloquent eyes 
to heaven, he exclaimed, "I die Avithout remorse. I die 

for my God and my country. Viva Gesu ! Viva 'It " 

Six homicidal bullets prevented his uttering the whole 
name of his beloved Italy, as he expired,* He was but 
forty-two years of age. 

*^ Xicolini on the Pontificate of Pius IX. 



Bedini's Miffion. 297 

The mother of Bassi, on hearing the fact, exclaimed 
"Ugo ! Ugo ! " and fell dead on the ground.* 

Signor Gajani, now a member of the New York bar, 
(1858) stated the following facts in a course of lectures, 
delivered in October, 1854. 

" Bedini became a priest for the same reason that the 
present Pope Pius IX., did. He was fit for no other 
service. Even in this he fell into discredit, on account 
of his licentiousness and bad conduct. He entered the 
service of a prince in Rome, and his business as a servant 
was to announce visitors. I myself," says Gajani, " have 
seen him in this humble position. Soon after he was 
made train-bearer to his master's son, and followed him 
to Vienna. He gained the favor of this young Prince by 
base services, it would be improper to mention here. For 
some good reasons, I must omit the detail of other pas- 
sages of his life." In 1843, he was sent as Internuncio to 
Brazil. He went with two servants, a secretary and a 
good cook; which last, a papal prelate never forgets. 
In Brazil, however, loud complaints were made, and he 
was disgracefully recalled by the pope, and an inferior 
position assigned him in Rome.f This is the papal repre- 
sentative from the Court of Rome to the United States, 
who found warm friends and admirers among Protestant 
citizens of our country, and of whose friendship senators 

* The Brigadier of the Carbineers who had arrested him, has since 
met his own death on the very spot where he captured the noble 
Bassi. 

f In the face of this fact, the pope, fearing the bold step he was 
taking to establish the Spiritual Court of the Inquisition in the United 
States would be found out, stated, Jesuitically, in his Letter, that Be- 
dini " was on his way to Brazil! So when he, Pius IX., fled to Gaeta 
in 1849, he pretended to the French soldiery that it was a mistake, aa 
he intended to have gone to France I !"—(?a;a7u. 
13* 



2g8 Bedini's Miflion. 

have even boasted ! He had much better have been sent 
to the penitentiary than to the American government. 
Yet he was received and entertained gracious'y by fawn- 
ing Protestants, and escorted under our national flag, 
upon an Ameiican steamer, in his tour to the lakes ! 

Seventy Italians, in New York, noble and true- 
hearted exiles from their country, addressed Bedini by a 
public letter, exposing his real character to the American 
people ! 

Such is briefly the history of the Pope's prelate, who 
was selected to establish the Spiritual Court of thd Inqui- 
sition — the San-Fidesti Society — and to interfere with the 
Church property of the American j3eople. Bassi's crime 
was for assisting wounded, dying soldiers. He had not 
been into battle. Bologna was his native place — all 
were anxious to save him — and even the Archbishop im- 
plored the suspension of the execution, till he might write 
to the Pope. But Bedini, composing his hypocriiical 
face into a mocking smile, rei^lied, that "he had a posi- 
tive commission from the Pope, and the execution should 
go on." " You recollect how Bedini, when in New York, 
denied his participation in Bassi's death. Some will ask 
why the pope should choose such a prelate for tliis mis- 
sion. I answer, firstly, that it is a very embarrassing thing 
to choose the least wicked among the Romish prelates. 
Secondly, Bedini is very cunning, and fit for everything 
that requires a sacrifice of honor and conscience. He 
can execute as a butcher, and can play the part of a good 
priest ! Thirdly, the secret mission on which he v^-as 
sent, was perfectly worthy of such an agent. He was 
sent here (among other things) to establish a secret 
Jesuitical Society, called San-Fidesti. This society was 
established when the Jesuits were suppressed by order 



Bedini's Million. 299 

of Clement XIV. Its first victim was that Pope him- 
self. Bedini's object was to establish this society in 
America, and I know that he succeeded J^ 

* Delivered in New Haven Oct. 17th, 1854, in presence of Professor 
Silliman and other distinguished citizens of the country. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE EOMAX EEPUBLIC. 



Death of Pope Gregory XIY.— Starved to Death and denied the Sacraments- 
Ceremonies over the Dead Pope— The election of Pius IX.— The Conclave — The 
Accident— The Amnesty— Appearance of the Prisoners when taken from tho 
Dungeons— Family of Pius IX.— Immoralities— His Change and Promotion- 
Conspiracy — Jesuits expelled from Kome— Bennetti — Eossi — Jesuits expelled 
from France— Eossi murdered— Antonelli—Eevolution— The Palace entered— 
The Pope submits— His Flight— Confessional-The election of the People— The 
Bible—The Pope deprived of temporal Power- Eome a Eepuhlic— Public Debt 
—The Pope prepares for War - France— England— Eome alone opposes the Pope 
—The first Eoman Victory— French Treachery— Their Vict iry— The Pope's 
Joy — His Cruelty — Blasphemy — The Women — Incidents — Austrian cruelties in 
aid of the Pope — Forssti. 



Ox the 29tli of May, 1846, Pope Gregory XYI. was 
said to be dangerously sick. A strict watch was kept in 
every place, contradicting the report that he was iu dan- 
ger. The people, too, were afraid to betray their mward 
delight at the prospect of his death ; as they had once be- 
fore been severely punished by him for manifesting joy at 
the expectation of his decease. 

This pope, the predecessor of the present pontiff, Pius 
IX., gloried in the acknowledgment, that he had never 
.)ardoned any one since he had the power, either in 
his convent or on the throne. The dean of the College 
of Cardinals, who had the sole right to assist the dying 
pope, repaired to the Vatican, but was denied admit- 
tance to the sick room by the premier of the Crown, who 
declared the pope was much better, and only wished his 

[300] 



The Roman Republic. 301 

immediate servants around him. The papers announced 
that the pope was well, and would attend high mass next 
day, at the church of Santa Maria Novella. The gala 
coach was then drawn before the door of the Vatican, 
and the sick, old pope taken to it. He fainted in the act, 
was taken back to his bed, and thus hastened to a close 
his last hours. Still the truth was concealed, so far as 
an energetic police could do so, and the papers continued 
to deny that it was the pope's illness which prevented his 
attendance that day. But the peoj^le could not be 
deceived. 

" Will the pope die this time ? " was the earnest in- 
quiry of many a broken-hearted being, whose relatives 
were then groaning in dark humid dungeons. 

The very idea of his death sent a thrill of joy to many 
hearts — it opened the door of hope to the afflicted 
mothers, wives and sisters of the victims he held in the 
dungeons and prisons of the "Holy Inquisition," as 
each pope has the privilege of turning out the victims of 
the preceding pope, to make room for his own. 

The pope died on the 1st June, 1846, without the 
viaticum and extreme unction, which he believed essen- 
tial to salvation! This was in consequence of the 
intrigue of several of the aspiring cardinals, for the 
throne ; and the dean, upon whom the duty devolved, 
was suspected of being a candidate for the succession ! 
He could not therefore, be trusted by the premier with 
the dying pope ! Fifteen hundred bells, attached to the 
five hundred and six churches of Rome, were tolled for 
" the benefit of the holy father." 

" The greatest confusion," says Gajani, "prevailed at 
the Vatican. The pope's ' family,' consisting of servants, 
priests, waiters, and prelates, have a right when he dies 



302 The Roman Republic. 

to ransack the apartments completely." "The corpse was 
laid on a large marble table, and a noble guard attended 
in an adjoining room. The officer whose busmess it was 
to open the door, associated with fifty others, said no one 
could tell when the pope died, as the physician found him 
a cold corjDse when he came in the morning. He died 
allone, being literally abandoned as soon as his death was 
certain, without the consolation of the sacraments." 

"Yesterday morning, at nine o'clock," said the officer, 
"I ventured, on hearing a violent ringing of the bell, to 
enter the pope's room — I was moved at the sight. Alone 
in that hot and mephetic room, feeble and fainting for 
food, he was tormented by thirst and flies. He almost 
supplicated me to remain. He was no longer the haughty 
and frowning sovereign : bitter disappointments had 
broken down his spirits and his hopes. I was there 
almost three hours, and was very glad when he dismissed 
me, as I was afraid of being disGovered, and the air of 
the room was insupportable." 

" Gregory XYI. having now departed this life, and 
his body having been duly and solemnly deprived first 
of political power, and then of religious authority, the 
surgeons of the papal court came in and took the corpse, 
in order to have it dissected and embalmed immediately ; 
for the hot weather, and the condition of the body, would 
have made the operation impossible if delayed any longer. 
The stomach, the heart, etc., were put in a vase, and 
taken in procession to the church of ' S. Anastasio,' near 
the fountain of Trevi." 

" In the mean time, the embalmed limbs were clad in 
rich pontifical dress, and exposed to the public in the 
cappella ardente, a chapel, with numberless burning wax 
candles. I went to see it, and thought that, after so 



The Roman Republic. 303 

many desecrating ceremonies, and the profiine operation 
of the surgeons, the corpse would have lost all its holi- 
ness; but I was mistaken, I was informed that the feet, 
being, perhaps, the most holy part of the papal body 
[santissimi 2^iedi), would retain something of their for- 
mer virtue for three days more. They had, therefore, 
been left naked, in order that any one might kiss them, 
and gain the indulgence of a discount of seven years from 
their future condemnation to purgatory ! 

During three days the honors of the court were paid to 
that embalmed corpse, and three times a day the great 
dignitaries and officers belonging to the kitchen went to 
ask for its orders concerning meals, and all these occur- 
rences were registered by the notaries of the reverend 
Apostolic Chamber, This treatment, which is customary 
on the occasion of the death of every pope, had then the 
appearance of a cruel satire, for it was well known that 
Gregory X\T. had been left to starve during the last 
days of his life," 

"The three days of the exhibition being over, the body 
was put into a coffin and placed upon the summit of a 
catafalco, or bier, erected in the main nave of St. Peter's 
Church. The funeral rites were performed around that 
lofty catafalco during nine days, with the usual pomp : 
a great many masses were said by well-paid priests, ex- 
cellent music w^as constantly performed during this time, 
and a thousand large wax candles were burning day and 
night. All this was done for the benefit of the soul of 
the pope, and cost the state a hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars. At length the costly remains were shut up in a 
marble tomb, on which Pasquino sat to judge the acts of 
the deceased," 

Pasquino, a poor tailor, was a great poet, and dreaded 



304 The Roman Republic. 

for his sarcastic wit. Having satirized the popes, he was 
caught by one of them, but released from punishment on 
a full confession and promise to write no more. His life 
was spared, but his tongue and hands were cut off. One 
morning this tongueless being, with handless arms, w^as 
seen sitting upon the ruined statue, the only one left in 
Rome in the days of Cola de Rienzi, the " last of the 
tribunes." Pasquino became the representative of satir 
ical humor of the Roman people. But to trace the 
authors of the pasquinades could not be done. Pope 
Gregory's cruelties were fresh with blood, and the prisons 
groaned with victims when he died. His private life in 
all respects was abominable. 

After the death of Gregory XYI., the Roman Catholic 
Church was two years without a pope ! The despotic 
authority was now in the cardinals, and the system, with 
all its oppressive regulations, remained unchanged. All 
the former agents and executioners were retained in 
office as before. 

But the cardinals knew they were hated by the people, 
and they feared their threatened fury. At this period 
all Europe was convulsed, and they knew not when the 
outbreak might engulf them ; yet they were concerned 
chiefly in enriching themselves. Then arose a voice of 
independence, patriotism, and courage, from the men of 
Italy, who dared to deny the authority of the papal yoke. 

The municipal authorities in most of the cities of the 
Roman States, addressed the cardinals with protests 
against the late diabolical administration. 

The city of Rome had no municipal authority since 
Pope Sixtus v., who abolished it ; but in a more earnest 
and significant way the people cried out, " We will have 
no pope !" " Down with the Papacy !" This was the salu- 



The Roman Republic. 305 

tation made to the cardinals, as they ^vere on their way 
to elect a new pope. There was one general expression 
of exasperation on that day. This fear of a massacre 
caused the old pope, in his sickness, to make a bull, (found 
unfinished among his papers,) giving any number of car- 
dinals, however small, the right to elect a new pope, who 
would be as lawfully his successor as though elected by a 
full college of cardinals. 

On the 13th of June, 1846, the cardinals assembled in 
conclave at Rome to elect a new pope. They drove in 
their gala carriages to the church of S. Silestro on Fuei- 
ual hill, attended by their numerous servants, &c. Here 
they dismissed all, except the few persons a cardinal is 
allowed to take with him to the conclave ; who are a sec- 
retary, a train-bearer, a chief waiter and a common ser- 
vant. They sang in private their usual hymn, " Veni 
Creator Spiritus." Then, coming out in procession, pro- 
ceeded to the palace of Quirinale, which is one belonging 
to the pope. Here every comfort and luxury was pre- 
pared for their reception. The six deacon cardinals, who 
led the procession, hav^e the same authority as the others; 
but they can be taken from laymen without ever having 
been priests. Sometimes the pope confers the cardinal- 
ship upon a layman of a princely house, or on a great 
scholar, who is willing to dress in purple and live with- 
out a wife. The whole number of cardinals is seventy. 
There were fifty-one present on this occasion. There 
never can be of this college more than ten Avho are not 
natives of Italy. These foreign cardinals, if present, can 
vote in an election for pope, but cannot be voted for, as 
the pope must be born in Italy. There was a grand re- 
ception of dignitaries, who called on the cardinals before 
they shut themselves in conclave, expressing conipli- 



306 The Roman Republic. 

ments, good wishes, etc. It was a great time in the 
kitchens, each cardinal having his own cook, and each 
trying to excel the other in the number of dainty 
dishes he could present his royal master. Two old 
cardinals headed two powerful parties, both candidates 
for pope. There was, beside, another party, who de- 
termined to vote for no one who was a friar. This was 
the Jesuit party, which other religious orders of Rome 
opposed, and who were suppressed by Clement XIV., 
himself a friar. 

The same day the conclave met, the cardinal " grand 
penitentiary" was approached by a mysterious person, 
who requested to be confessed. Secrecy having thus 
been secured, the statement was made at the confessional 
of a conspiracy in existence to blow up all the cardinals, 
and that the mine and gunpowder were in readiness. 

Architects were set to work, and twice searched the 
building in vain to find the mine. The cardinals, how- 
ever, were in terror, while intrigue, personal ambition 
and interest were at work. They, pretending that the 
election of pope was made by them, under the influence 
of the Holy Ghost, and yet, having France, Austria, 
Spain and Portugal interfering through their ambassa- 
dors, who every year receive large sums of money as 
" protectors" of the cardinals ! 

Mark it, reader ! — the pope is head of the Roman Catho- 
lic Church throughout the world, but no country but 
Italy can furnish a pope ; while it is a notorious fact, that 
the prelacy of Rome is more corrupt in Italy than in any 
other papal country upon earth. But the reason why the 
impostors invented the theory of electing the pope by 
the Holy Ghost, was, that when not confined to Italy* 
France also elected a pope, and Germany did so likewise 



The Roman Republic. 307 

and these several popes warred on each other! The 
French pope moved the Holy See to Avignon, in France, 
and was near ruining the character of the Roman chair, 
when Catharine, from Siena, carried it back to Rome, 
and for which she was made a saint ! After Adriano VI., 
the cardinals passed a law that none but an Italian should 
be pope. But to the election. It was mortal fear that 
hurried on the cardinals and restrained their ambition. 
Waiting for the foreign cardinals, it was usual to cast votes 
on some iron-head. The iron-head chosen was Cardinal 
Mastai Ferretti, whom no one believed could get one 
genuine vote ! This was the person agreed upon by the 
confusion and fright of the cardinals, neither party being 
aware that he was selected by the other. The result 
was, he got thifty-six votes, and became by that mistake 
the living head of the Universal Roman Catholic Church ! 
The cardinals saw their error, but the pope was elected ! 
Those thrones on which the seventy cardinals sit, (all 
are equal sovereigns while the Holy See is vacant) are so 
arranged, that by pulling a rope, at any time, the canopy 
or upper part disappears ; so, as soon as the election was 
made, the ropes were all pulled to lower the canopies of 
the thrones, and each cardinal went by turns to kneel 
before the throne of the newly elected pope, and wor- 
shipped him humbly as the Holy of Holies ! 

Next morning, 16th June, 1846, the solemn announc- 
ment of the poj^e's election was made. Cardinal Camer- 
lengo took the golden hammer, Avith which he struck the 
dead pope's head, to ascertain the fact, and struck the 
door which led into the interior of the palace, which was 
walled up during the conclave. He then advanced, and 
announced the pope's election in these words : " I an- 
nounce to you a great joy : we have as pontiff John Maria 



308 The Roman Republic. 

Mastai Ferretti, from Sinigallia, who has assumed the 
name of Pius IX." He then presented the pope in his 
pontifical robes, who, coming forward, stretched his right 
hand, and with his two first fingers extended, made the 
sign of the cross upon the people ; and successively turn- 
ing to the north, west and south, imparted in the same 
manner his blessing to all the earth ! 

Pius IX. had been for eighteen years a bishop, acting 
as a secret police, a duty bishops generally perform very 
thoroughly. In this way he knew better than the car- 
dinals that the people were against him. He very soon 
took care to say to the foreign ambassadors that he was 
desirous to give an amnesty to political opponents, and 
wished the people to wait for these peaceful changes. It 
had been usual for other popes to liberate- prisoners con- 
fined in the dungeons on the second day after their elec- 
tion, as they visited St. Peter's Church. But Pius IX. 
did no such thing. When he saw, however, ladies in 
mourning waving their little white banners, with the 
word " Amnestia" upon it, and the crowd which thronged 
the streets crying out that one word, (amnesty,) he told 
the officer of his guard to " let the people know he was 
preparing for it." 

In the meanwhile, he retained in oflice every agent of 
past tyranny, and enforced those inhuman and oppressive 
laws that it was not believed possible then to have done. 
He enrolled all the corrupt servants and courtiers of Gre- 
gory XVI., even to the famous Gaetanino ! 

Popes have the power to absolve themselves, from a 
solemn promise ; and when a month elapsed, and no 
amnesty was made, it began to be surmised that Pius 
did not mean to grant a single pardon. But on the 16th 
of July, 1846, an edict did appear from the pope, written 



The Roman Republic. 309 

in Italian, granting a conditional pardon to those classes 
of political offenders who would beg for it, acknowledge 
their crimes, and promise to behave better in future! 
There were so many exceptions, that few could expect, 
under this to be benefited. All political off'enders 
who belonged to the clergy, or were guilty of any offence 
against the established religion, were excluded. This 
embraced by far the largest number of prisoners, w^ho 
were mostly influential persons opposed to papal oppres- 
sion, consequently, of the liberal party. Then all who 
had been employed in public institutions were excluded. 
All who had before enjoyed an amnesty w^ere likewise 
debarred the hope of pardon ; and, finally, that class who 
were charged with some common crime, as well as poli- 
tical offence, were excepted. So that, in fact, it was a 
sham affair — the very essence of Jesuitism. But it was 
as much as was expected from a pope, and the people 
who cared not for him, determined to make the most of 
it. They w^ere for having their friends come out of the 
dungeons at once, instead of waiting for any investiga- 
tion. A " srreat demonstration" was therefore asjreed 
upon, and had been agitated several days before the edict 
issued. Every class of citizens united in it, to show the 
feelings of the whole people. They illuminated Rome, 
formed into a procession, and shouted vehemently, " Long 
live Pius the Ninth !" This cry was simultaneously made, 
by previous arrangement, throughout Italy, and against 
the will of the pope ; and in disregard of the laws and 
regulations then in force, the prisoners were set free ! 
Pius IX. was afraid of his life, and dared not resist the 
popular clamor. So little did he confide in the good will 
of the people, that, when the procession halted at his 
palace, and cried out, " Yiva'Pio Nono !" he could scarce- 



310 The Roman Republic. 

ly be prevailed on to appear on the balcony ; He knew that 
the same voice of the people which cried " Long life," 
would have cried " Death !" the next moment, had he 
attempted to keep down the bars of the prisons. " Xow 
the greatest attraction was the liberated prisoners," 
says Gajani, " and deep interest in them was felt by every 
one. When taken from their cells and brought to light 
among the large crowd of their friends and relatives, 
they looked astonished and bewildered, as if suspecting 
that their triumjDh was but a dream ! Many of them were 
entirely disabled and worn out by ill treatment, and 
some were brought, blindfolded, upon chairs, because 
the slightest movement, and the light would have injured 
them. I saw among them in Rome a venerable old gen- 
tleman carried by four of his sons, all full-grown men, 
formerly his fellow-prisoners. A ray of joy animated his 
dying face, and his heart was overwhelmed with happi- 
ness at the imposing sight of the Roman people once 
more free, and evidently determined to maintain their 
freedom. Excess of joy terminated in a few days his 
already worn-out life. His last Avords were, ' K'ever trust 
a pope.' 

" I did not see my brother when he came out from 
prison, for he was in Rimini. My mother had been wait- 
ing there for the amnesty ever since she had heard of the 
election of the new pope. ' They brought him to my 
arms,' she wrote to me, ' because he could not walk at 
all, or even change his sitting position. The dampness 
of his dungeon deprived him of the use of his limbs, and 
want of air and light made him look pale as death. His 
sparkling black eyes were shut, because he could not bear 
the light. I need not say what I felt at this sight. But 
he was in excellent spirits, and bade me be of good cheer, 



w 



The Roman Republic. 311 

as he would recover in a few days. So thinks, too, our 
friend. Dr. Michele. But I feel that I am not able to 
hope for the best, for I have a sad presentiment. I have 
seen the amnesties of five popes during my life, and know 
how much to rely upon them." 

Thefamily of Pius IX. had such an opinion of Mastai 
Ferritti, that his own brother, Joseph, exclaimed, " We 
shall have a bad pope !" and refused to live in Rome, or 
take office under him. Another member, a nephew, 
said the pope was a selfish man, " a true priest." To show 
his hatred to the liberals, Pius IX. had his nephew im- 
prisoned. 

Properly speaking, there is no nobility in Italy, no 
true aristocracy, having distinct privileges. In the time 
of the middle ages the political party were the nobility, 
but equal oppression made it a common party. Now, 
any family of fortune, and living in style, may be enrolled 
among the nobility. 

Grazioli, now a baron and a nobleman, was thirty 
years ago, a poor baker ! Sometimes the title of prince, 
marquis, knight or count is conferred by the pope on 
some influential name. In this way the family of Mastai 
Ferritti was made noble. 

The pope was the youngest of four sons. His father 
was in the highest degree opposed to entering his 
younger boys in monasteries or making priests of them. 
He was an intelligent liberal, and in favor of having his 
sons educated in a way to be useful to themselves and 
their country. 

But John Maria was so exceedingly stupid, and had 
such an aversion to study, that his father found him not 
only obstinate but unable to receive an education. The 
Latin language, which is the key to the university and 



312 The Roman Republic. 

to every scientific profession, Avas the especial object of 
his dislike, for he could not grasp its meaning. His 
parents concluded to make him a soldier to the pope, 
and put him under the dominion of the priesthood of 
Rome. This is regarded as the severest punishment for 
dissipated young men, who can do nothing better than 
wear a mean livery, as a " pope's soldier." It signifies 
in Europe a coward, fit for nothing but papal parades. 
John Maria held the post of light horseman, on account 
of his noble family, and his duty was to escort the 
pope's carriage. He obtained admittance into good 
society in Rome, and improved in manners and mode 
of expression, but grew worse in morals. He was ena- 
mored with a beautiful and accomplished girl, though 
not a legitimate daughter, but she was virtuous and de- 
clined the advances of such a low, debased fellow. He 
then sought to recover from the disappointment by going 
to Naples, and deserted his place of pope's soldier to fol- 
low a famous actress, Madame Morandi. In I^aples he 
ruined his health for life, was again disappointed, and 
lost all his little property. He went back to Rome, and 
found Clara Colonna married to one worthy of her, and 
the pope's troop of horse disbanded, as the pope wanted 
a "noble guard," in place of the cavalleggeri. John 
Maria applied for admission to Prince Barberini, who 
had the right to enrol the noble guard ; but he was re- 
fused, as his sickness would not allow him to ride on 
horseback, as well as from his former want of discipline. 
Here, denied emjDloyment, disappointed in love, ruined 
in reputation, broken in fortune, and lost in character, 
he ventured to approach Pius the Seventh, then an old 
man, who, seeing his miserable condition, in mind and 
body, said to him, " Repent of your sins, and make your- 
self a priest, and God will bless you." 



I 



The Roman Republic. -313 

From that time, John Maria became, in external acts 
of devotion, a bigoted fanatic. Abbot Graziosi, a learned 
and liberal priest, gave him some lessons in theology, and 
Avithout any distinct ideas of the matter, he was ordained 
a priest, at the age of twenty- three. But, even then, 
he despised study, and devoted himself to an institution 
for vagrant and abandoned children, called Tata Gio- 
vanni. 

Abbot Mastai Ferritti desired then to go abroad as a 
missionary, and he was sent with Abbot Pecci to Chili, 
in South America. Tliough unacquainted with the 
language of the country (Spanish), he was successful 
among the Creoles, Avho liked his earnest manner and 
gesture, and perhaps respected him the more from not 
comprehending his language. When Ferritti returned 
to Rome, he was made a canon of the church of Santa 
Maria, in Via Lata, and Pope Leo the Twelfth after that 
made him bishop of Spoleto, an old city, eighty miles 
from Rome. 

An instance occurred in 1831 which marked the 
treachery of Mastai Ferritti, now Pius IX. The revo- 
lutionists of Italy were being pursued by the Austrians, 
and resolved to reach Rome in advance of them, and 
prepare to go into battle. When they got as far as 
Spoleto, they found the Austrians fifty miles behind. 
The bishop of Spoleto, Monsignor Mastai Ferritti, and 
his cousin Joseph, bishop of Rieti, had just received a 
large sum of money from the pope, to be used in retard- 
ing the march of the revolutionists. The bishop of Rieti 
proposed to join with the Sanfidesti, and make battle on 
them ; but the Bishop of Spoleto, Mastai Ferritti, more 
cunning, corrupted the leader of the revolutionists, and 
this traitor deceived them and fled. This same bishop of 
14 



314 The Roman Republic. 

Spoleto, the present pope, after bribing the man and 
making him a traitor, came in the meek Christian char- 
acter, and told them, that they had no chance to reach 
Rome before the Austrians, and that they had better lay 
dovni their arms and accept the pope's pardon. They 
relied upon him, surrendered arms, and every man of them 
was punished with long imprisonment. 

For this exploit, he was promoted to the bishopric of 
Iraola, which is very lucrative and generally given to a 
cardinal, or a prelate aspiring to that oflSce. A few 
years later, both he and his cousin, bishop of Rieti, were 
created cardinals ! 

This man, now Pope Pius IX., was detested in Spoleto 
by all the inhabitants. In Imola, his election of pope 
caused great excitement, so much was he despised, and 
it was the same case in Sinigallia, his native town. 

Pius IX., was aged fifty years, when he was elected 
pope ; and is consequently now in his sixty-seventh year. 
It was not expected, at the time he came to the throne, 
that he could have lived half so long. His health was 
then, comparatively gone, and he was subject to epileptic 
fits. His fomily have never been on fomiliar terms with 
him, at any period of his life. His profligate character, in 
early life, and the sickness which followed after, is sup- 
posed to have made him the cowaiTl he has now become. 
To his moral isolation, is attributed his moroseness ; and 
when elected pope, he was without a friend. 

Except supreme selfishness, he is less profligate than 
most of the popish priesthood at present ; but the change 
in his mode of life, is ascribed to the loss of his health. 
He thinks Divine Providence has separated him from all 
other men, and manifested it, in saving him, when a child, 
from being drowned ; in arresting his life of dissipation, 



The Roman Republic. 315 

and in making his colleagues cast their unwilling votes on 
him, and thus made him pope, in order to do some great 
deed, to subserve the interests of popery. 

It was his most extraordinary bigotry, which led to so 
much persecution when a mere bishop, both in Spoleto 
and Imola. A few days after he was made pope, he went 
to the church del Gesu^ the Jesuit head-quarters, to say 
mass, and there declared the Jesuits to be " the strong 
and experienced oarsmen who kept from shipwreck the 
bark of St. Peter." The press was, and is still under the 
censorship of the Holy Inquisitors ; and never a word or 
act, which shews the pope in his true character, is seen in 
any part of the world. 

But, the people were not satisfied at this ; they wanted 
liberty of the press, recognized by law ; they wanted the 
Jesuits expelled from Rome, and a national guard for their 
own protection. It was im^Dossible to trust the solemn 
oath of the pope, and what was done, had only been the 
result of his cowardice; the moment he could restore 
despotism and put down the people, he would do it ! 

A conspiracy was at once arranged by the Sanfidesti, 
by Avhich the leaders of the liberal party of Rome, who 
instigated these reforms, were to be put to death. The 
16th of July, 1846, was the day fixed for the accomplish- 
ment of the deed of darkness. 

One, two or three assassins were hired, according to 
the importance of the person's life. Among the leaders, 
at least three of the Sanfidesti, were employed, to com- 
pass the death of each man. These emissaries of Papal 
despotism, Avere to have their poniards aimed at a short 
distance from their victims, and strike only when there 
was a tumult raised. The occasion was to be a great pro- 
cession, which furnished a fine opportunity for the work. 



31 6 The Roman Republic. 

The man who discovered this Jesuitical conspiracy and 
whose life was particularly sought, was a carman, by the 
name of Angelo Brunetti, called Cicernacchio. He got 
the information from one of the three assassins, who had 
been appointed to kill him. The assassin could not un- 
derstand the general plan ; for it is not a part of the 
organization of the Sanfidesti, to know any thing more of 
a jDlot, than the part they are ordered to play in its exe- 
cution. Their oath binds them to do whatever the supe- 
rior authority commands. The plan, however, was dis- 
covered by searching the house of a former infamous spy, 
named Minardi, who fled from Rome on its discovery. 
A letter was found in that house from a certain Virginio 
Alpi, which set forth the whole matter. 

A large band of these rufiians were arrested; and on 
each was found a poniard, and their purses filled Anth 
gold. When interrogated as to where and how they 
procured these weapons and money, all were silent, ex- 
cept two ; who, overcome by fear of death, acknowledged 
that a prelate and a cardinal had given them the poniards, 
after having blessed the deadly Aveapons ! The prelate 
was Monsignor Grassellini, the governor of Rome. The 
moment he heard the plot was revealed, he fled to Na- 
ples. The cardinal on whom suspicion at once rested, 
was Lambruschini, the premier of the last pope ; and the 
only doubt of this, was caused by the confession of the 
two rufiians, Avho insisted, the one they saw, was a young 
man. 

The pope, on being informed of what had passed, 
ordered his Swiss guard to close up and watch his palace 
gates. 

He appointed Monsignor Morandi Governor of Rome, 
an honest lawyer, who immediately issued orders for 



The Roman Republic. 317 

the arrest of the soldiers, and stated to the people, that 
the whole plot Avas discovered, and important documents 
in hand, etc., which would lead to a full arrest of all 
the culprits. "I am preparing for the trial," said this 
honest man, "and justice will be done quickly." 

Freddi, colonel of the gend'armes, Xardoni, chief s\)j 
of the late pope, and other conspirators, were brought 
back to Rome. The pope wrote, himself, for the arrest 
of the late governor of Rome, who had fled to Florence, 
and peace ensued, while the people waited for the trial. 
The pope was so very amicable, that he no longer opposed 
the establishment of a national guard. 

Austria knew all about that conspiracy, and her troops 
had crossed the Po, into the Roman country on their way 
to the city, Avhen they met Yirginio Alj^i, flying for his 
life; and they recrossed the river and took him along 
with them. Tliis Alpi, was the man who had enrolled the 
Sanfidesti band, who were to act in concert with the 
Austrian troops, to slaughter the Roman people ! In the 
ofiicial correspondence concerning Italy, which was pub- 
lished by order of the English cabinet, we find that the 
English ambassador, writing to Lord Palmerston, a few 
days before, uses this significant language : " Prince Met- 
ternich has made a verbal communication to me of a 
jDrobable intervention of the Austrian troops in Rome, in 
order to deliver the poj^e from the popular anarchy. He 
did not say that the pope applied for this intervention, 
but I have no doubt of it." 

What does all this mean? We shall see. Fifteen 
days after, the pope appointed Monsignor Morandi gov- 
ernor of Rome, and whose mtegrity would have insured 
a trial of all who were implicated in the conspiracy, he 
removed him to another ofiico, and put in his place Mon- 



318 The Roman Republic. 

signor Savelli, the most notoriously depraved of all the 
j)relates then in Rome, and who was believed to have 
been a member of the Sanfidesti society. What fol- 
lowed ? Why the trial of the Sanfidesti conspirators 
was never mentioned again. So far from that, the pope, 
when restored to Rome in 1849 by Frenchmen, rewarded 
all those w^ho were concerned in that diabolical plot to 
assassinate the friends of liberty. To Monsignor Gras- 
sellini, the prelate, who blessed the poniards of the San- 
fidesti, and then put them in their hands, he gave the 
rich bishopric of Palermo. Monsignor Savelli, who was 
made governor of Rome to prevent the trial of the con- 
spirators, received a cardinalate. Colonel Freddi, the 
chief spy of Gregory XYI., who fled on being detected 
and was brought back to Rome, he gave a generalship. 
The base spy, Nardoni, also, was made a general. Mi- 
nardi, in whose house the letter revealing the plot was 
found, became a general director of police; and Alj^r, 
who enrolled the assassin band of Sanfidesti, was re- 
warded by being appointed the general director of the 
Custom House, etc., etc. 

The cardinal who blessed the poniards with Grassel- 
lini, was afterwards believed to be Antonelli, the present 
premier of the pope. The fother of Antonelli was sent 
to the galleys for life, under the government of Napo- 
leon, in 1813, but when the pope was told that the only 
reason he was condemned was, that he belonged to that 
holy order, the Sanfidesti, he set him free and rewarded 
him. 

After the pope agreed to have a national guard, which 
was about the time the plot of assassination was de- 
tected, the Jesuits applied for its aid to protect their 
convents from the mob. The people were infuriated 



The Roman Republic. 319 

against the monks, and the cry every night around the 
convents was, " Death to the Jesuits," etc. The pope 
ordered the national guard to attend each convent ; but 
finally there was a jjositive and general refusal on the 
part of the guard to do so. The cunning Jesuits saw 
the storm and began to pack up. The people were 
openly discussing their expulsion, an old shepherd re- 
marked, " To drive the fox from its hole, the best way 
is to set fire to it." 

At that moment of excitement, the convents were 
suddenly deserted, and a large and chosen cargo of these 
enemies to human rights, were sent by the pope as a 
gift to these United States, here to erect their convents 
and monasteries, and by all means to increase and defend 
the power of the papacy. 

The day following that stormy night, the official news- 
paper of the pope announced the withdrawing of the 
Jesuits, and said : " His holiness, who has ever looked 
with favor on these servants of the church, as unwearied 
fellow-laborers in the vineyard of the Lord, is bitterly 
grieved at this unhappy event. Considering, however, 
the growing excitement, and the numerous parties which 
threaten serious trouble, the pope has been forced to 
look at these dangers : he has, therefore, made known to 
the father-general of the company, his sentiments, as well 
as the concern he feels on account of the difficulty of the 
times and the prospect of serious disturbance." Upon 
this announcement the father-general resolved to yield to 
the force of circumstances. 

The pnpers merely announced that the Pope had ex- 
pelled the Jesuits. Tlie Fren(.-li pnp?rs eulogized him, 
and even blind Protestant nations called him a religious 
ref :)rmer 1 



320 The Roman Republic. 

It slioiilcl be stated, that Angelo Brunetti, who first 
discovered the plot of the Jesuits to assassinate the 
l^eople, veiy mysteriously disappeared with his son, who 
undoubtedly were seized by the holy Inquisition. This 
man was possessed of great influence among the people 
on account of his virtues and his intellect. The pope 
tried to win him by favors, but the man was above 
flattery or papal honors. He fought at the siege of 
Rome for liberty, and lost one son in the battle. For 
this crime he was taken off! 

In September, 1848, Cardinal Antonelli, announced 
that he had prevailed upon the pope to appoint Rossi 
prime minister. This was very startling intelligence. 
Rossi was a Calvinist, and as such was exiled by Pope 
Pius Yn. He had lived in Geneva a long while, and 
there married the daughter of the distinguished French 
author, Guizot, himself a Huguenot. 

Rossi went to France after the revolution of 1830, and 
enlisted under the party, of which Guizot was leader. 
He was made professor of political economy, the most 
distinguished chair in the University of France, and 
after that, was created to the dignity of a peer of France, 
But two foreigners have been so honored by the French : 
those were Rossi and Bixio, both Italians. In 1845, the 
Jesuits and the French Universities had an embittered 
contest, and Louis Phillippe decided to expel the hated 
intriguers. 

Rossi was designated as the Ambassador to the pope 
to obtain his consent. But Gregory XVI., was enraged 
at the idea of sending a Protestant to him, and refused 
to receive Rossi as the representative of a nation styled 
"very Christian," (Christianissinio). But Rossi went to 
Rome in view of all this, and at the end of two months 



The Roman Republic. 321 

accomplished his mission, and the Jesuits were ordered 
by the pope to leave France ! 

It was said, Rossi ejQTected this through the fovorite 
servant of the pope, Gaetanino, who being bribed kept 
the old pope continually drunk ! When Louis Phillippe 
went into exile, Rossi refused office under the French 
republic, and returned to Bologna in Italy, where he 
was elected to the constitutional council of Rome. He 
was in favor of separating the spiritual and temporal 
power of the pope, and the last man on earth, for this 
reason, to be at the head of this ministry. But he went 
into office like a man, and began the work of reform 
among the clergy ; which was very distasteful to them. 

On the 15th of ^NTovember (1848), was the second great 
opening of the deliberate bodies of the State. 

Rossi drove up to the palace in his magnificent carriage, 
with two of his friends and attended by his three ser- 
vants in gala livery. An unknown man touched his 
arm, as he mounted the steps, and as he turned his head, 
another plunged his knife into his neck, and then calmly 
withdrew among the crowd, and pressed forward to s.ee 
what had attracted it ! No one thought of the assassin, 
but all of Rossi, who was dead in a few minutes. A trial 
was ordered, but all the information obtained, was, that 
a man had boasted the previous night, that he could 
earn a thousand dollars next day ! 

Yes, Rossi was murdered by a hired assassin, and one 
who Avas experienced in his profession. It was for the 
sole purpose of sacrificing him, that Cardinal Antonclli 
and the pope put him in that position. The perfidious 
pope, immediately after, appointed Antonclli to the 
premiership, who, to tliis moment, exercises absolute 
sway over the pope in this capacity. He is the head of 
14* 



322 The Roman Republic. 

the Sanficlesti, or Society of Holy Faith ; and coming to 
Rome when it was in the hands of Frenchmen who were 
about to cause a trial, to discover the murderer of Rossi; 
he requested to have all the evidence that had been 
collected jout in his hands, and then sought to destroy 
every trace of the event ! 

The sudden death of Rossi, was believed, by the 
people, to be the signal of a revolution by the Sanfidesti 
and Austrians, similar to the plot eighteen months 
before. The pope shut up himself, and would admit no 
one, but Cardinal Antonelli, and the foreign ambassadors. 
The next day the constitutional deliberative bodies of 
the State were in session, and sent a deputation to the 
pope, requesting a new and responsible ministry. The 
pope refused the deputation and the message. The 
crowd of the common people now began to gather 
around the palace, and while making no seditious cry, 
and totally unarmed, the Swiss body-guards of the pope, 
armed with guns inside of the palace, fired on the crowd, 
killing two and wounding many. This was done by 
order of Antonelli, who, anxious to shed blood, collected 
before the piazzi of the palace all the pope's hired sol- 
diers, good and bad, amounting to about one thousand. 

This aroused the Roman people, who marched to the 
palace and through the thousand unresisting soldiers on 
the piazzi, met and overpowered the Swiss guards, whom 
they then, generously forgave. The national guards 
garrisoned the palace, levelled a cannon against the 
private apartment of the pope, and sent the same depu- 
tation, whom he had refused to see. The pope saw them 
then, gladly, and agreed to their request to appoint a 
new ministry, which he promptly did. 

The people, then, had the government in their own 



The Roman Republic. 



323 



hands. The pope knew he had not a friend in Rome, 
and he was eight days devising the means to fly from 
the city. He might never have been able to do so, but 
for the aid of a beautiful Roman lady, who encouraged 
him. She was the wife of the secret Charge d'aifaires 
in Austria. She was a shrewd and courageous woman, 
and the foreign diplomatists in Rome had engaged her 
to influence the pope, and so far overcome his peculiar 
cowardice, as to persuade him there was no danger, 
if he would accompany her. 

This lady was somewhat famous for political intrigues, 
and as Teresina Girand, neice of the writer of popular 
comedies, she had had many admirers. 

On the 24th of November, 1848, the papal ministry 
announced to the Roman people that the pope had run 
away ! The people were perfectly delighted, but made 
no particular demonstration. The first act which looked 
like an exercise of liberty, was taking all the confessionals 
out of the churches and piling them together, to burn 
them. The papal police insisted on their restoration, and 
at the instance of Angelo Brunetti, the most powerful 
tribune, they were restored. " I formerly thought," said 
he, " it would be good and right to burn these instru- 
ments of corruption to our wives and daughters ; but now 
we are free, no one will go to the confessional." 

The people then brought out the "guillotine" and all 
the instruments of torture used by the late pope, and 
burned them, and threw the ashes into the Tiber. It may 
be added here, that when the pope got back to Rome, he 
was very much distressed to find his instruments of death 
destroyed. He could find no one in that city to make 
another for him. But the Bishop of Marseilles bearing 
his trouble, kindly sent him two new guillotines, with all 



b 



324 The Roman Republic. 

the modern. improvements. So grateful was the pope 
for tbe service, that he determined to mate the bishop a 
cardinal, when a vacancy afforded the opportonity. 

When the pope heard there was no anarchy in Rome, 
and that the people, instead of concerning themselves 
about him, were attending to their own business, and ex- 
ercising the right of universal suffrage, he sent forth his 
bull of "major excommunication" against all liis minis- 
ters who aided in preserving order, or who took part in 
the new government of the Republic. 

Cardinal Antonelli sent this bull to all the bishops in 
the Italian States, to be published at the elections. 
The effect was, to increase the vote, so that in a popula- 
tion of two millions and a half, three hundred and fifty 
thousand voters attended the polls, and thus manifested 
their contempt for the j^apal edict. The election furnished 
a noble example of republican dignity and decorum. The 
next day, the Roman people held a large public meeting, 
to consider the propriety of excommunicating the pope, 
who had been "an object of scandal to the Christian 
world and deserved to be cut off from their Christian 
communion," In the address, to be sent to him, were 
these significant words : " When you, sir pope, left the 
city by one gate, the Bible entered it by the opposite 
gate, and now there is no longer room for you." 

The 5th of February, 1849, the representatives elected 
by the universal suffrage of tlie Roman people, assembled 
at the capitol. Among these two hundred men, there 
was scarcely one, who had not suffered by the persecu- 
tions of papal tyranny. Some were yet lame from the 
heavy chains worn so long in the dungeons, and others 
still suffering from the efteets of the various tortures and 
torments there inflicted. But, in the midst of it all, it 



The Roman Republic. 325 

was glorious to behold the spirit of forgiveness, and who 
but the omniscient God could have inspired it ? 

All these representatives were liberally educated men, 
chiefly lawyers and land-holders. There were among 
them two Jews, two Romish priests, and a prelate. The 
question of deposing the pope w^as brought forward, as 
soon as the preliminary proceedings were concluded. It 
elicited an animated discussion, from ten o'clock in the 
morning until after midnight ; but not one voice was 
raised in favor of the papacy. The only difference of 
sentiment was, as to tlie expediency of delay. European 
diplomacy, was not only intriguing to prevent the depo- 
sition of the pope, but had threatened to reinstate him. 
In that case, death for " high treason" would be the sen- 
tence on every member of the assembly. But, like our 
fathers, in. 1776, these men felt the responsibility with 
which they were entrusted, and resolved to discharge it; 
fearless of all personal consequences. The vote was ac- 
cordingly taken, and the pope deposed. The proposition 
was then made to establish a republic for Italy, and was 
immediately carried. The most intense interest was 
evinced, by the people, pending the deliberations of the 
assembly ; and when it was proclaimed that the pope was 
dei:>osed and Italy was a republic, the joy was tumultuous. 
The decree, deposing the pope and the enactment of the 
republic, was carried in a procession, embracing almost 
every soul, through the city, and afterwards to the 
capitol, as a triumph of moral principle over the institu- 
tion of popery. The decree was publislied the Cth of 
February, 1849 : " In the name of God and of the people.'* 
The colors of the new government were white, green and 
red, and the motto on their flag was, " God and the 
people." Tills passage from papil power to republican 
liberty, did not cost a " drop of blood nor a tear," 



326 The Roman Republic. 

For six months this republic maintained absolute liberty 
for the people : that is, the people governed themselves. 
There was no standing army, no confiscation of property, 
for political opinion, and so entire a freedom of the press, 
that a newspaper, called " Constituzionale," openly ad- 
vocated the restoration of the pope without being mo- 
lested. 

The pope taxes his subjects over ten millions of dol- 
lars annually, beside a larger sum which they have to 
pay for the public works and salaries of the vari(His 
government offices. Leo Xllth was the tirj^t pope to 
create a public debt. 

In 1828, when the Catholic emancipation bill was before 
the English parliament, the pope sent two millions of dollars 
to England to corrupt the public journals and the orators. 
From that time, the public debt continued to increase, 
and when Pius IXth fled from Rome it amounted to 
forty-two millions! This ruined financial condition, in 
which the pope left the people, was a serious impediment 
to their progress ; nevertheless, the free possession of 
political and religious liberty, jDcrsonal freedom and pri- 
vate property, a free press, gratuitous public instruction, 
etc., soon made the condition of the republic a prosperous 
one. 

While things Avere looking so happily for Italy, under 
the auspices of as wise, virtuous and dignified statesmen, 
as ever adorned any country, the pope was preparing to 
involve her in war. Austria, France and Spain entered into 
an alliance, in April, 1849, to put down the Italians and 
restore the pope. 

Louis Napoleon pledged himself to reinstate his holi- 
ness, in order to gain the Jesuitical party, by whom he 
was intrigued to the throne of Franco. When the 



The Roman Republic. 327 

Italians found that the French were sold to the pope, the 
republic sent an ambassador to England to entreat her 
government to oppose the league. At that moment, 
England held the destinies of Europe in her hands. It 
was a glorious opportunity for that Protestant power to 
have secured a liberal policy, throughout Europe ! But, 
how did England act ? She sided with the pope and the 
despots ! Her own aristocracy were at the head of the 
government, and the triumph of liberal principles were 
inimical to their interests ! 

Lord Palmerston absolutely refused to see the Roman 
ambassador, except, in a very private manner, and ended 
the matter by saying, "papacy must be restored in 
Rome, because it is expedient in order to maintain the 
equilibrium and the peace of Europe." 

Not only did France, Spain and Austria, conspire 
with the pope and the king of Naples ; but England, 
Russia and Prussia favored him. Rome, stood alone 
then, with all Europe against her ; but still determined 
upon resistance. With this disadvantage, the Romans 
met a French soldiery, inured to war in Africa, and 
repulsed them. They fled from the city to a hill, called 
Castle Guido, and sent an officer to Rome to implore an 
armistice. Numbers of their men were killed and six 
hundred were wounded — beside in their camp, numbers 
lay wounded, with no means of relief; as the French 
never imagined the possibility of defeat ! The Romans 
generously granted the armistice and sent provisions 
and surgeons, to the French quarters. The next morn- 
ing, after treating their prisoners to breakfist, sent them 
back, also free. 

The joy of the Romans was boundless, at the result of 
that battle, as it was fought almost exclusively by the 



I 



328 l^he Roman Republic. 

citizens. There ^vere not in Rome at the time, either 
foreigners, or Italians, from other parts of Italy. 

The French, Jesuit-like, were deceitful and peaceful, 
until they landed more troops at Civita Vecchia, and then 
broke the armistice and treacherously renewed the war. 
The French began throwing their bombs into the city 
and then entered it, by a subterranean way, which they 
learned by a Prussian officer who was in Rome. The 
fight was now a nocturnal one, short arms were used and 
the result was bloody. The Romans fought until their men 
and provisions were both nearly exhausted. They stop- 
ped at length the progress of the French, and no fm'ther 
effort was possible. In the meantime, Austria had con- 
quered all the northern cities. The king of Xaples had 
taken the eastern provinces and a Spanish army was in 
possession of the kingdom of ^SJ'aples. 

On the 3d of July, 1849, Sunday, the streets of Rome 
were silent and the city was covered in gloom. The 
sun of liberty had set, and the oppression of popery was 
again the doom of that fated people. 

The French entered quietly and took possession of 
Rome, on that day. They proceeded to the capitol 
where the representatives of the people were sitting, and 
pointing their bayonets at their breasts, commanded them 
to leave. The Romans protested ; but the French hav- 
ing all power, insist2d. By orders of Louis Napoleon, 
the French allowed twenty-four hours for the Romans 
to escape, before the papal government was restored. 
The vengeance of the jDope was boundless, and when he 
found the principal agents of the revolution had fled, he 
wreaked his cruelties upon those who had acted with 
them. 

" A papal priest," says Richelieu, " never pardons." 



The Roman Republic. 329 

So we find from the statistics, that Pius IX. had 230 
persons executed in the t\vo first years after his restora- 
tion ; beside those who died in the prisons, which con- 
tained over 8,000 victims ! 6,000 lives were destroyed 
by the war; and more than 20,000 were exiled from 
their native land, including those who fled, from fear of 
persecution. These statistics were published in 1851, by 
a Conservative Newspaper at Florence, under the censor- 
ship of the Austrian government. Such is the history 
of the persecution and cruelties of the restored pope 
Pius IX. the present head of the Roman Catholic Church 
in these United States ! While the four Catholic armies 
were bayoneting the Roman Republicans, to replace the 
pope, he was receiving the homage of gentlemen of the 
Court, and giving his hand to be kissed by the ladies. 
He went too, on a pilgrimage to a Madonna, midway 
between Gaeta and the fortress, and vowed that if he 
got back to Rome, by her intercession, he would make 
her a magnificent present ! He sent Savelli to tell the 
French to bury the Republicans under the ruins ot 
Rome, if necessary; and Bedini, Iiis particular friend, 
(afterwards nuncio to the United States,) was dispatched 
to aid the Austrian army, in its ferocious and merciless 
war upon the Italians. This Romish prelate issued his 
ordinance from the headquarters of the Imperial troo2ys, 
and countersigned the bloody orders of Corzkowski ; by 
the authority and in behalf of the pope ! ISTor should it 
be Ibrgotten, that afterwards when the French violated 
their military honor, and treacherously renewed the at- 
tack upon the Romans, some persons devoted to the 
pope and his church, believing he was ignorant, that so 
much blood was being shed in liis name, went to Gaeta 
to inform him. But to their surprise, they found the 



330 The Roman Republic. 

court rejoicing, at the news; which was received twice 
a day from Rome ; and the more sad and distressing the 
condition of the inhabitants became ; the greater was 
the joy of the pope and his courtiers. 

The deputation in view of this, determined to see the 
pope and tell him of the torrents of Catholic blood which 
were being shed, and to beseech him to stop the immense 
sacrifice of life. Pius heard the recital without being 
in the least moved, and calmly replied, "God has 
doomed them to destruction : the anger of God is terri- 
ble ; no prayers can disarm Him. They have refused our 
mercy, let them feel our justice." The messengers were 
appalled at the daring impiety of those blasphemous 
words ! ! 

It was on Sunday, the 3d of July, IS-tO, that the 
French renewed the assault upon the Romans, and the 
inglorious victory of Pius IX. was won. The next day, 
the 4th, Oudinot, the French commander, repaired to 
Gaeta, to congratulate the pope and receive his acknow- 
ledgments. 

He was received as an angel of mercy, for having 
slaughtered the citizens, to restore the pope's temporal 
authority; and the valor of himself and his troops, was 
extolled to the skies. " The vindictive priests rejoiced 
at the relation of the slaughter, and at the numbers and 
quality of the victims, who had perished." 

The pope, to prove his delight and satisfaction, imme- 
diately honored the French general with the title of 
Duke of St. Pancrase. The pope, the head of the 
Roman Catholic Church, gives the name of St. Pancrase 
to the man, whose cannon had battered into ruins, the 
church of St. Pancrase I 

A gold medal was also presented by the pope to Gene- 



The Roman Republic. 331 

ral Oudinot, bearing these words: "For having thought 
of the salvation of the citizens and the fine arts." 

These were the memorials which the French soldier 
received at the hands of the pope, the price of the blood 
of his massacred subjects! Then the pope ordered a Te 
Deum to be chanted for the French victory. 

Nor was this all. At the beginning of the war, the 
Roman ladies of the highest rank took charge of the hos- 
pitals, and attended personally to the wounded. The 
spiritual direction of them was confided to thirty or forty 
priests, headed by Gavazzi, who devoted themselves to 
that duty. Instead of the pope praising the Christian 
action of these ladies, he denounced them in his Ency- 
clica, excommunicating the ladies and imprisoning the 
priests. 

These ladies were the wives and daughters of liberals, 
and the patients were patriots. But they had soothed 
and consoled their fellow creatures, whom Pius had de- 
clared accursed, and they were expelled from Christian 
communion ! 

It is impossible to describe briefly the proofs of hero- 
ism which were given by the Roman people in their strug- 
gle against the pope ; the ardor and intrepid action of the 
men, the devotion and charity, the self-sacrifice of the 
women. The old and the young ; master and servant ; 
friend and foe, were all united in defence of the city. 

The women were indefatigable in conveying food to 
their sons and husbands, to save them from dying from 
exhaustion ; and many in their self-denying mission, 
perished from the showers of shot and shells which fell 
from the French invaders. 

The wife of an ofiicer who had not left the ramparts 
for several days and nights, jDrevailed upon her husband 



332 The Roman Republic. 

to leave for a few minutes and partake of the food slie 
had brought to him. As they sat down on the ground, 
she placed herself between him and the enemy, saying : 
"If a bullet comes this way, I will defend thee from it." 
And so she did ; for as she sat wiping his brow, arrang- 
ing his hair, and encouraging his valor by her gentle 
sympathy, a bomb struck her fatally. The brave soldier 
could not restrain his tears and lamentations, but the dying 
woman faltered : " Go, dearest ! weep not for me. Go, 
rather, and avenge me ! Farewell ! " 

Another case, peculiarly touching, was that of an aged 
father whose son and brother were in the battle. His little 
daughter of eleven years, was kneeling at her bed side 
praying God to bless them and save her country from 
popery, when a bomb crushed the roof and killed both. 

The wife of Garibaldi, the bravest of the brave, is em- 
inently characteristic of the ancient Roman women. After 
the pope's army had put down the Romans, she fled with 
her husband by secret by-paths to Piedmont. But they 
were tracked like wild beasts, and were often without food 
or shelter; finally, the lady, soon to become a mother, 
sank under the fatigue, and could proceed no farther. 
She thought not of herself; but solicitous only for her 
husband's safety, begged him to leave her to her fate, and 
seek refuge for himself. Garibaldi, not less afiectionate 
than brave, of course remained with her, who after linger- 
ing a short time, died in his arms. He contemplated for 
some time the pale corpse of his most faithful ^vife, the 
niother of his children, the partner of his dangers; then, 
digging a place with his sword, he laid her sorrowfully 
beneath the earth, and swearing to avenge her, he alone 
and unguarded, reached Piedmont, and afterwards came 
to America ! 



( 



The Roman Republic. 333 

From the Gth of August, 1848, to the 22d of that 
month, nine hundred and sixty-one capital sentences were 
pronounced against the Lombardo-Yenetians ; for the 
most trifling ofiences — such as having a knife, a fowling- 
piece, or a percussion cap, in their pockets. How many 
more perished in secret, without the semblance of trial, 
there is no means of ever knowing, in this world. 

When the victim was not old enough to be shot, thej 
used the bastinado. A boy, too young to be shot with 
his father and brother, had sixty blows inflicted, and 
died under the torture ! 

At Milan, October 7th, a fruiterer vras found with a 
bayonet under his matrass, for which he was sentenced 
and shot. 

Three married men, with seventeen children to sup- 
port, were shot for " having sought to induce imperial 
soldiers to enlist in other service." 

In Mantua, two priests were shot as they descended 
the pulpit, for preaching rather too liberally for the pope's 
taste. At Camo, about the same time, Antoine Cresceri, 
and Joseph Maztiazzi, were shot, for giving a glass of 
brandy to two soldiers, who called out, " Vive V Italic I 
Yive VHongrie .^" 

Ernesti Galli, of Cremona, and Maria Conti, of Florence, 
young women, received thirty blows, after being grossly 
insulted. 

Dumas, in his Journal Le Mais^ says : "This is not a 
page from the old Chronicles of the Inquisition ; this 
was not dark torture imposed upon traitors to God and 
man, ISTo; it all passed in the open air, under God's 
heaven, in the sight of all nations, in the year of grace, 
1849, and of the French republic, the second." 

The Austrian marshal ordered the city of Milan to pay 



334 The Roman Republic. 

the Courtezan Olivari, 30,000 livres for carrying the flag 
on that occasion. 

March 18, 1851, Don Dominique Bolzani omitted to 
recite the prayer for the Emperor of Austria's prosperity, 
on his Majesty's birth-day; for which he was sentenced 
for high treason and imprisoned for two years. In 
1851, October Uth, Louis Daltesio, a native of Como, 
was hung in Venice, for having had a prospectus of 
a historical work he had written, found on his person. 
The work was a liberal one and published in Switzerland. 
The names of the judges never appeared, nobody de- 
fended the poor victims — nobody was present at the trial, 
or read their papers. The sentences were simply coun- 
tersigned by the commandant. 

In 1854, Count Montanari, and five of his friends, all 
of noble family, were arrested for conspiring with Maz- 
zini for Italian liberty ; they were doomed to die. The 
mothers and wives o the poor victims went to Yerona to 
implore Marshal Radetski to mitigate the sentence. He 
refused amidst their tears and groans, to give them 
an audience. Radetski's chief staff ofiicer, General Bene- 
dek, famous for cruelty, pretended to be interested in these 
ladies, and said to them : " Listen, I will make another ap- 
plication to the marshal in your behalf" In a few mo- 
ments he returned, very cheerful, and said : " Return to 
your homes, ladies, and be comforted ; his excellency com- 
mands me to say to you, that no blood will be spilled." 
These ladies, overcome with joy at the thought, that life 
at least was spared to their friends, and hope might be 
indulged for the future, Avent home to Mantua. They 
were sentenced to be shot ; but by " special flivor they 
were hanged," and "no blood Avas spilled!" 

In the chronicles of despotism in Italy, in 1849, im- 



I 



The Roman Republic. 335 

mediately after Pope Pius IX. was restored, we find 
enough to sicken the most obdurate heart. In Gubbio, 
the sentence for heresy, was to stand in the church with 
their lips sewed up, and liable to be burned to death. In 
Parma, two men were shot, because a hangman could not 
be found. Everywhere, the finding of arms on or near a 
person, had to be atoned by death. 

In Naples, more than 30,000 were in prison for politi- 
cal ofiiences. 

In Venice, a lady was bastinadoed to death, for re- 
proaching an Austrian soldier, who had insulted her. 

The Roman Republican Government desirous to have 
a legal recognition by the United States, in 1849 sent 
Signor E. Felice Foresti, as an ambassador to this coun- 
try. He had, in 1820, conspired for the freedom of Italy 
from popish despotism, and for this ofience, was sentenced 
to death; but it was afterwards commuted to twenty 
years of severe imprisonment at Spielberg. When he 
had served fifteen years, he was banished to America, 
with nine other distinguished Italian citizens. His sisters, 
without his knowledge applied to Pope Gregory XVI.,' 
who sent back their petition in silence. Then, after that, 
to Pius IX., who, in 1848 allowed him to return, but with- 
out civil or political rights. His sufferings were excru- 
ciating — in the darkest dungeon for full fifteen years ! 

Citizens of New York, undoubtedly remember the 
mild and unpretending manners of Foresti, seemingly 
unconscious, as he walked the streets, of the severe suf- 
fering he had undergone. 

Note.— To G-. B. Nicolia, of Rome, Deputy of the Constitutional 
Assembly, and officer of the General Staft' of the Roman Army, and to 
Guglielmo Gajani, Professor of Civil and Canon Law, and representa- 
tive of the people in the Roman Constituent Assembly of 1849, the 
author is indebted for the foregoing facts. 






SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. 



Cases of torture cited in the present and past centuries — An Auto dafe — Elizabeth 
Vasconcellas tortured because she would not abjure her Protestant faith — A Jew 
— G-alileo — Bower— Coustos tortured for being a Freemason — Llorente — Mon- 
tara the Jew— Eonian Catholic Nurses baptized — Protestant Infants clandestinely 
baptized by Eomish priests in the United States. The Church claims all such 
and will secure them. 



The proceedings of the L^quisition begin by a denun- 
ciation. This soon is changed to a declaration. It is 
related that Blanco White's mother did not, for days, 
speak to her son, lest he should use some unguarded 
expression, which would oblige her to denounce him to 
the Inquisition. The accused is asked, in general terms, if 
he or she has ever heard anything which was, or appeared 
to be, contrary to the Catholic faith, or the rights of the 
•Inquisition. If suspected of heresy, the accuser had to 
state whether it was slight, grave, or violent. Ludovicus 
a Paramo derives the example of confiscating the proi> 
erty of heretics from God himself; " For," says he, " God, 
as the first inquisitor, teaches other inquisitors, his dele- 
gates, how heretics, should be dealt with!" The tor- 
tures used upon the victim Avere " the pulley ;" " the fire 
or chafing-dish ; " " the rack," and the trough, in which 
the prisoner was bound and corded. To illustrate these 
different processes, we give the reader some of the nu- 
merous flicts which arc recorded in Llorente, Limbcrch, 
Geddes, Gavin, Dellon, Bower, Blanco White, Coustos, 
and other accredited authorities at hand. 
(336) 



Supplemental Chapter." 337 

We have before us a letter, written by Mr. Wilcox, 
(afterwards Bishop of Rochester,) minister to the English 
factory, at Lisbon, to Gilbert Burnet, the historian of the 
reformation, dated June 15, 1706. " I saw," says he, 
" the whole process of an auto da fe. Of the five con- 
demned, four were burnt. Heytor Dias and Maria Pin- 
teyra were burnt alive, and the other two were strangled. 
The woman was half an hour alive in the flames — the man 
about an hour. They were fastened to a pole, six feet 
higher than the fagots. The wind being a little fresh, 
the man's back was perfectly wasted, and as he turned 
himself, his ribs opened before he left speaking, the fire 
being recruited as he roasted, to keep him just in the 
same heat ; but all his entreaties would not procure him 
a larger allowance of wood to shorten his misery and dis- 
patch him." 

In the eighteenth century, Elizabeth Vasconcellas, the 
daughter of John Chafi*er, of Devon, England, a Protes- 
tant^ was taken to Madeira upon a family misfortune, and 
under the auspices of the English residents, continued to 
Hve in her own faith, eight years. In 1704, while her 
husband was in Brazil, on business, she was taken se- 
riously ill, and while in an unconscious state, she was 
visited by a Romish priest, who administered the sacra- 
ments, and on her recovering was desired to attach her- 
self to that faith. She absolutely refused, for which she 
was imprisoned by the bishop of the island seven months, 
for holding heretical sentiments. She was then removed 
to the Inquisition at Lisbon, in December, 1705. An in- 
ventory of all her effects was then taken in the prison of 
the holy office, and her person searched. She was made 
to swear this was all she was worth, and then was taken 
to her cell, where she was kept for nine months and fi^ 
15 



I 



338 Supplemental Chapter. 

teen days. The first nine clays she was allowed only 
bread and water and a wet straw bed. On the ninth day 
she was questioned on her religious faith, and she declared 
herself a Protestant. They told her she must conform to 
the Romish faith, or be burnt. In a month's time she 
was again summoned before the fathers and questioned, 
but without inducing her to recant. The officials strip- 
ped her back, and after lashing her with knotted cords, 
told her to kneel down and thank the court for their 
mercy, which she refused to do. In fifteen days she was 
again brought forward, and a crucifix set before her, 
which she was commanded to bow down and adore ; and 
refusing to do this, she was told she must expect to be 
burnt with the Jews at the next auto da fe. At the ex- 
piration of thirty days, she was again called before the 
judges. Her breast was laid bare by the executioner, 
who with one end of a hot iron rod, burnt her to the 
bone in three different places on her right side, and she 
was sent back to her cell without any application to heal 
her sores. At a subsequent audience, she was asked 
whether she would profess the Romish faith, or burn. 
She replied she was a Protestant and a subject of the 
queen of England. To this, the inquisitor told her, that 
being an English subject signified nothing in the king of 
Portugal's dominions ; that the English in Lisbon were 
heretics and would certainly be damned. The execu- 
tioner was then ordered to seat her in a chair, and to 
bind her arms and legs, so as to prevent, even motion. A 
physician was at hand to decide how far she could be tor- 
tured without hazard of life. Her left foot was put into 
an iron slipper, made red hot, and fastened there, until 
the flesh was burned to the bone. She fainted under this 
torture, and the physician advised the slipper to be taken 



' 



I 



Supplemental Chapter. 339 

off, and she was sent to her dungeon. After some time 
elapsed, she was again cruelly whipped, and her back 
to;n all over, and was threatened with greater severity 
if she did not embrace the Romish faith. On the other 
hand, liberty was promised, if she would change her re- 
ligion. She finally consented, and wrote her name to a 
l^aper, though she knew not what it contained. And 
then, without returning to her her goods and money, 
they dismissed her, destitute, upon the charities of the 
people of Lisbon." 

The trial of Galileo, for holding and publishing the 
opinion that the earth revolves around the sun, is familiar 
to the general reader. He was ordered to Rome in 1615, 
to be reprimanded for this offence ; but, when he wrote 
upon it, eighteen years later, 1632 and '33, he w^as cited 
a second time to appear before the holy tribunal at 
Rome. He was then seventy years old and in infirm 
health, which made it dangerous to travel, but he was 
obliged to leave Florence and appear before his judges. 
He was subjected to a rigorous examination, and this tor- 
ture is supposed to have been the reason why he signed 
the paper abjuring his opinions ; as in addition to his 
previous disease, he became after that afflicted with 
hernia^ caused, it was said, by the torture of the cord. 
He was sentenced to imprisonment during the pleasure 
of the judges, and to repeat seven of the penitential 
psalms once a week for three years. Limberch gives an 
account of Isaac Orobio de Ca.stro, who had been de- 
nounced as a Jew, to the inquisition at Madrid. The 
inquisitor had him put into a linen garment, and almost 
squeezed to death. When near dying from the pressure, 
he was suddenly released, which caused as much anguish 
as the pressure. He then had small cords tied around 



340 Supplemental Chapter. 

Lis thnmbs, and so swelled tlie extremities as to cause 
blood to spirt from his nails. As he still refused to con- 
fess the crime of which he was accused, he was put on a 
bench against the Avail, in which were fastened iron pul- 
leys with ropes. The ropes were fastened to his arms, 
legs, and around his body, and then drawn to cause ex- 
quisite pain. The bench was then knocked from under 
him to cause the weight of his body to draw the knots 
closer and increase the agony. He was then tortured on 
his shins, by instruments made of two upright pieces of 
wood, and five cross-bars sharpened, somewhat like a lad- 
der. The executioner, by a particular motion, struck his 
shins with these instruments five blows each way. He 
fainted, but recovering, the executioner tied two ropes 
round Orobio's wrists, and put ropes over his back, and 
then placed his feet against the wall and fell backwards, 
so that the ropes penetrated the prisoner's bones. This 
was done three times. After the second, the physician 
was consulted as to whether the victim could bear ano- 
ther ; he decided that he could, and it was again inflicted. 
He was sent to his cell, and his wounds were not healed 
in seventy days. He did not confess under the torture, 
and was condemned to wear the san-benito for two years, 
and then to perpetual banishment. He died before his 
penance expired, in Amsterdam, 1707. 

The escape of Archibald Bower from the Inquisition of 
Macerata, (of which he was councillor,) 1726, is deserving 
of attention. All trials took place in the night, and in 
full court. After it was decided to proceed against a 
party, he was arrested in the dead hour of the night and 
locked up, and the key returned to the inquisitor-general. 
Besides the pulley, just described in the case of the Jew, 
Bower says : " There was an anvil fixed in the middle of 



Supplemental Chapter. 341 

the floor, witli a spike, not very sharp, projecting up- 
wards. The accused was hoisted up and lowered by 
ropes at the four corners of the room, until his back-bone 
rested on a spike. The weight of his body tended to 
fracture his spine. This torture lasted eleven hours, un- 
less the prisoner confessed. Matches of tow and pitch 
were wrapped around the hands of women, and then 
fired until their hands were consumed ; or cords were tied 
so tightly aroimd the thumbs as to cause the blood to 
flow from the nails." Bower was aj^pointed one of the 
inquisitors of the Inquisition, and a manuscript giving the 
directions, was put in his hands to read. It was so bar- 
barous and inhuman that it was not in print, but each 
member possesses a copy, which is handed back to the 
inquisitor-general upon the death or serious indisposition 
of a councillor, with the seal of the Inquisition on it ; after 
which it was death to any one to open or retain it. Bower 
fainted once on witnessing the torture of prisoners, and 
was severely reproved. He extenuated himself by as- 
cribing it to nature. " Nature," said the inquisitor ; 
" you must conquer nature by grace ! ! " To conquer 
nature, the inquisitor-general ordered him to arrest an 
intimate friend, who was a nobleman. Bower could de- 
vise no means to save his friend, and had to proceed with 
the guards to his house. He knocked, the maid-servant 
inquired who was there ? "The holy Inquisition ; come 
down and open the door without any noise, on pain of 
excommunication." The girl came instantly, and sliowed 
the way to her master's room. The lady awoke first and 
shrieked, when one of the ruffians gave her a blow on her 
head, which caused the blood to flow. The nobleman 
was astonished to find himself arrested by his best friend, 
but made no reproach. Bower, next morning, announced 



34^ Supplemental Chapter. 

the arrest to the inquisitor-general, thus : " This is done 
like one who is desirous to conquer the weakness of 
nature." The nobleman underwent the tortures of the 
pulleys and died in three days. His estate was confis- 
cated to the holy office, a small pension being all given 
his widow. 

John Coustos was imprisoned, in 1743, for the crime 
of free-masonry : he was a Protestant. He was thrice 
examined before the inquisitors, and made to swear he 
would not divulge the secrets of the holy office. He was 
required to divulge the secrets of free-masonry, which he 
refused on account of his oath; but the judges said they 
would absolve him from all such oaths. He was doomed 
to the torture for not discovering the secret of free- 
masonry. He was laid on his back on a scaffold, his 
neck fastened to it by means of an iron collar ; two rings 
were attached to his feet, and his limbs stretched with all 
their strength. They then wound two ropes under each 
arm and leg, and made them pass under through the 
holes made for the purj^ose. On a signal given, they 
were all drawn tight and cut through the flesh to the 
bone, making the blood gush. Coustos still refusing to 
divulge more than he had done, this torture was four 
titnes repeated; the surgeon being present, time was al- 
lowed for him to recover himself between the inflictions. 
While undergoing this, he was told by the judges it was 
from his obstinacy, and if he died he would be guilty of 
self-murder / Six weeks after he was again taken from 
his dungeon and tortured. His arms were stretched until 
the palms of his hands were turned outward ; his wrists 
were fastened by a cord behind him, and a machine 
gradually drew the backs of them until they touched. 
When over, he was taken to his dungeon, and the bones 



Supplemental Chapter. 343 

were set by a surgeon, under agonizing pain. Two 
months after he was again brought out, and his execu- 
tioners passed a thick iron chain twice around his body, 
which crossed his stomach and terminated in rings at- 
tached to his wrists. He was then placed against a thick 
partition, at each end was a pulley ; ropes were run 
through these and attached to the rings on his wrists. 
As the ropes were gradually made tighter, the chains 
bruised his stomach, and the shoulders and wrists were 
put out of joint. They Avere reset by the surgeon, and 
the same torture was inflicted with a similar result. He 
was then conveyed to his prison to wait the auto da fe^ 
unable for weeks to lift his hands to his mouth, having 
lost the use of them. He was made to walk in procession 
at the auto da /*€, and sentenced as a galley-slave for 
four years. In four days he was set to work, but be- 
came sick and was sent to the infirmary. He was now 
visited by Irish friars, and his release offered, if he would 
forsake the Protestant and adopt the Roman Catholic 
religion^ which he indignantly refused. By means of the 
British minister at Lisbon, he was demanded as a British, 
subject, and the inquisitor commuted his sentence to 
banishment. He was ordered not to leave for England 
without giving the holy office information of the vessel in 
which he sailed ; but he ventured to go without doing so, 
and for three weeks he was obliged to lie concealed in 
the ship at Lisbon before sailing. Coustos arrived in 
England in December, 174:4, and published his narrative 
a year or so after that period. 

The first bull against free-masonry was issued by the 
pope in 1738. Clement Xllth excommunicated all free, 
masons. Philip, in 1740, published a royal ordinance 
against them. In 1739, the punishment of death was 



I 



344 Supplemental Chapter. 

decreed against them by the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, in 
the name of the high priest of the God of peace and 
mercy ! 

Llorente states, that when the Inquis^ition was opened 
in Spain, in 1820, twenty jy^i^oners were found who did 
7iot know the name of the city i?i which they were / not 
one knew, perfectly, the nature of the crime of which he 
was accused. One of these prisoners had been doomed 
to suffer death the following day. His execution was to 
have been by the "pendulum." The condemned, by this 
process, is fastened on his back, in a groove, to a table ; 
suspended above him is a pendulum, with a sharp edge, 
and so constructed as to become sharper every movement. 
The victim saw this coming nearer and nearer every mo- 
ment; at length it cut the skin of his nose^ and gradually 
cut on, until life was extinct. This was the invention of 
the inquisitors to dispose of their victims at a time when 
they were afraid to celebrate their auto da fe. This 
mode of putting to death may be used wherever the 
Romish church has dungeons. Who \\\\\ say this or simi- 
lar modes of torture are not now practised in the subter- 
ranean vaults of the Roman Catholic churches in the 
United States to-day ? 

Mendonca was imprisoned in Lisbon, 1820, for the 
crime of free-masonry ; the most prominent questions to 
him were the amount of treasure belonging to the order, 
and wJiere it was deposited. He was four years a pris- 
oner for not being able or willing to disclose it. 

The papal Journal d& JBruselles stated, in the autumn 
of 1858, that a Jew, named Montara, residing in Bo- 
logna, had a child baptized a papist, by the nurse. Five 
years after, the ex-nurse communicated this fact to the 
Roman Catholic Church, when the boy was declared de 



Supplemental Chapter, 345 

facto and de jure a Christian. He was torn from his 
infidel parents, by the Church, in spite of their remon- 
strances, and sent to Rome, to be educated by popish 
priests, in her faith. They consented that the father 
might see his child, and that they would even release 
him, if the Jew would promise to educate him a Roman- 
ist. This he refused to do, and appealed to the Emperor 
Napoleon. The Jew declared that the evidence by 
which the Romish Church justifies itself is insufficient, 
— first, because the uncorroborated story would not be 
strong enough to deprive him of an old garment, much 
less of his son ; and, secondly, that the child was in no 
danger of dying, and, therefore, by the papal creed, this 
lay baptism would have no virtue. 

Here is a principle worthy of consideration in the 
United States, when parents' rights and feelings can be 
outraged whenever a papist chambermaid chooses to 
sprinkle their infant in the face, and invoke the blessing 
of the Roman Catholic Church upon it ! 

From Mr. Hogan, the Roman priest, and former pastor 
of St. Mary's Church, in Philadelphia, we have the most 
undoubted confirmation of this fact. He states that 
every morning on his return from the church in Phila- 
delphia, he found Roman Catholics waiting in his house 
with the infants of Protestants^ which he baptized, and 
further says, that this is the universal lyractice in all the 
cities of the United States where Catholic nurses have 
the opportunity. " I would not be surprised," says he, 
" if one half of the children of Boston are not now bap- 
tized Roman Catholics." If so, parents, tremble, for if 
ever an opportunity occurs to claim them, they will be 
claimed as subjects of the Romish Church, and treated 
accordingly ! ! 

15* 



34^ Supplemental Chapter. 

" Every day each individual belonging to the ' Com- 
pany of Jesus ' is obliged to communicate to the spiidtual 
father or the superior of the college where he lives, every- 
thing he sees^ hears^ or thinks. These fathers make ex- 
tracts and communicate them to the father of the pro- 
vince, (who is archbishop or bishop of the diocese) who, 
in his turn, makes a selection, and lays them before the 
pope in a particular audience every Thursday evening. 
The father-general of the Jesuits holds in his hands by 
means of consciences all the reins of Catholic society 
everywhere. If he believes, for instance, that the greater 
glory of God demands the creation of a revolution in any 
place, the general sends the order to his assistants, who 
give notice to all the associates, and these obeying as ma- 
chines, speak and act as commcmdedm the confessional and 
the pulpit, so that, if the father-general is not afraid of 
unveiling his intrigues, he might often predict an event 
many months, or even years, before its occurrence ! This 
is the reason why Jesuits are protected by sovereigns and 
governments. If any power is opposed to them, it must 
sooner or \2X^y fall. In those places where Jesuits have 
no legal existence, the influence of the father-general is 
still greater, for there (as in the United States) the Jes- 
uits exist as missionaries, or under some other name. 
The father-general sends to tliese countries the most art- 
ful men, who propagate their ophiions secretly^ and many 
who would not dare to avow themselves Jesuits, connect 
themselves with the company under some other name 
without being aware of it. In spite of all persecutions, 
the Jesuits never abandoned England. There are more 
Jesuits thei^e than in Italy : they are to be found in all 
classes of society, in Parliament, among the Protestant 
clergy^ among its bishops, and among the aristocracy ! 



Supplemental Chapter. 347 

" I did not comprehend how a Jesuit could become a 
Protestant minister, or a Protestant minister a Jesuit ; 
but my confessor soon taught me by saying, " Omnia 
Munda Mundis," that St. Paul became a Jew to save 
Jews ; so that there was nothing astonishing that a Jes- 
uit sliould turn Protestant among Protestants^ to con- 
vert Protestants. Protestant countries, (as the United 
States) especially, furnish revenues to Jesuits. They ed- 
ucate in Rome a certain number of young men ivom. for- 
eign countries, and this furnishes them with a pretext for 
making secret collections in those countries for the sup- 
port and education of Rome in their missionaries. Each 
class of men and women have their appropriate corres- 
ponding confessor." — De Sanctis^ Qualijicator of the In- 
quisition^ etc. 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

Danger, like a vast rock on a railway, lies before this 
people, and we are bound to swing the lantern of warn- 
ing before their eyes, that they may see their impending 
ruin ! But that the friends and apologists of Romanism 
may not chai'ge us with exaggeration or misrepresenta- 
tion, we have met them in this work upon the state- 
ments and arguments of the highest Romish authorities. 
We have thereby proved that the system of popery has 
nothing whatever to do with the Word of God. That 
the confessional is destructive to the liberties of the 
nation, and incompatible with the morals of the people — 
that the consecration of nuns, is a polluting marriage 
ceremony T\dth the bishop, and while these victims " can- 
not possibly escaj^e," they are often doomed to a life of 
gross licentiousness or the severest inflictions of bodily 
torture. That Romish bishops in the United States are 
Inquisitors^ in correspondence with the pope of Rome, 
and sworn to watch every opportunity for advancing the 
interests of the Inquisition in our land; that each bishop 
makes his own form of confession to suit our country and 
penetrate the secrets of families^ individuals and the na- 
tion^ which are regularly reported to the pope. We have 
exposed the mode of denouncing and torturing victims 
of the Inquisition in the eighteenth and nineteenth centu- 
ries, for the crimes of Protestantism, Free Masonry, Ju- 
(348) 



Concluding Remarks. 349 

daism, etc.; and that it is as potentially in existence to- 
day as it was in the middle ages. Furthermore, that the 
pope sent his nuncio to establish the Spiritual Court of 
the Inquisition upon American soil. We have unveiled 
the " Constitutions " of the " Society of Jesus " that this 
people may at once realize the imminent danger which 
imperils their liberties — while the entire Roman Catholic 
Church is controlled by this fearful order, and that the pre- 
lates and priests are either members of it, or bound by 
their oath to the pope to support it. The Jesuit swears 
that his superior, be he who he may^ holds the place of 
Gody and is to him in the place of Christ.'''' We learn 
how they interfere with, and seek to control the politics 
of, this country, and support for office such Protestants 
as they can use as their own instruments, for the ad- 
vancement of the interests of the Roman hierarchy. The 
various secret associations or societies to which we have 
referred, are but the legitimate offspring of this " Soci- 
ety of Jesus." 

The time has come when the people of the United 
States must defend their civil and religious liberties 
against the aggression of this deadly foe. The morals, 
the manners, the homes, the institutions and laws of our 
country are endangered, while we have a foreign hierar- 
chy in our midst, corrupting and enslaving the people. 

Shall the education of our young men and women be 
longer surrendered to popish priests, whose Bible is the 
breviary and whose God is the pope ? Shall the crusade 
upon our Protestant Bible, begun anew through the 
" Circle of Jesus," bear sway upon the common school 
system, founded upon God's Holy Word — the pillar 
upon which this republican government rests ? Who 
will stand idle while this is being undermined? The 



350 Concluding Remarks. 

system of Romanism, as revealed in this volume, accords 
to the pope, power to be a tyrant, and to betray the liber- 
ties and independence of this free comitry. Shall it say 
to the tide of human civilization " Go back ? " 

Will not the press unite in enlightening the people of 
our land, who have believed long enough in the delu- 
sion that allegiance to the pope is purely spiritual? 
The very assumption of infallibility makes the papal 
church intolerant. Its arrogant claim to supremacy over 
all governments and nations in things spiritual, must 
make it so. The crimes it punishes against the State is 
heresy, and its punishment extends even to taking the 
lives of heretics, " whose blood," as their Romish Testa- 
ment asserts, "is no more than the blood of thieves, man- 
kiUers, and other malefactors; for the shedding of which^ 
hy order of justice^ no commonioecdth shall suffer.'''' 
The fact is undeniable, that wherever popery has had the 
the power of enforcing her sanguinary laws, (Protestants) 
have been put to death. They who boldly deny that 
papists are not bound to obey the pope in temporal 
things, must also deny that they are not bound to obey 
him at all ! Because the spiritual authority of popery is 
all-pervading, since it compels a man to renounce Pro- 
testantism. 

Influenced solely by a spirit, patriotic and christian, we 
seek to excite public attention immediately to this subject, 
feeling assured that every American heart will thrill when 
they once perceive the hand of popery, secretly moving, 
misdirecting or holding in check the rights of the people. 
The Jesuits and their allies have several times changed 
their policy towards their own jjresses and those of Prot- 
estants, and are still dissatisfied with their position in re- 
gard to it ; they have successively multiplied their own 



I 



Concluding Remarks. 351 

presses, and then curtailed their number ; made great ef- 
forts to extend their circulation, and then condemned them 
as injurious. They cannot suppress the extension of 
knowledge among their people here, for newspapers are 
and wiU be read. Their policy now is, that while the Ro- 
mish journals in the United States publish a few hundred 
sheets, the American newspapers, which send out daily, 
millions, are to be propitiated to guide and influence pub- 
lic sentiment in their hehalf^ either by open praise or 
studied silence upon their practices or proceedings in our 
country. 

One of the Irish Journals, edited by a papist of New 
York, says : " For every musket given into the State 
armory, let three be purchased forthwith; let independent 
companies be formed thrice as numerous as the disbanded 
corps — there are no arms acts here yet — and let every 
" foreigner " be drilled and trained, and have his arms 
always ready. Be careful not to truckle in the smallest 
thing to American prejudices. Do not, by any means, 
suffer Gardner's Bible (the Protestant Bible) to be thrust 
down your throats. There must be peace or a loar of 
extermination. We are here on American ground, either 
as citize7is or as enemies.^^ 

Will not our editors, as good and true men, seriously con- 
template this momentous subject, and express their senti- 
ments fearlessly thereon ? WiU they not suggest decided 
and suitable measures for the protection of our civil and 
religious rights ? Will they not look to the future ten- 
dency of Romish influence in the United States ? To the 
pulpit and the press, in a great degree are entrusted the 
dissemination of light against darkness ; of American civi- 
lization against Romish barbarity, of Christianity against 
priestcraft, which is raoing in the land of your fathers 



352 Concluding Remarks. 

and of your cliilclren ! Will not editors be true to the 
cause of liberty, and openly confront the enemy who is 
laboring to fasten tyranny upon men's consciences in this 
land of liberty, Trhere every good thing, with God's bless- 
ing, prospers and comes to maturity ? Papal Rome looks 
upon the United States as pagan Rome did on her Punic 
rival. While the warriors of Africa, after the first strug- 
gle, were standing idle within a few miles of Rome, she 
sent her legions to the very walls of Carthage. Remem- 
ber we have to renew now the struggle of the Re- 
formation, and we must resist even to the very walls of 
the Vatican. Let the press be warned before the bane- 
ful influence of popery has taken deeper root in our soil. 
When once it has possession of this republic, farewell to 
liberty, to virtue, and to happiness ! 

Note. — In Connecticut in the -winter of 1857, application was made for 
the appropriation of pubhc funds to reheve all mortgages and incum- 
brances upon Roman Catholic church property in that State I In other 
words, they simply proposed that the State should give the Roman 
Catholic churches money enough to pay their debts. This was done 
not under the expectation of success, but to incur favor with the 
Jesuits, and make capital with their Roman Catholic retainers. A 
proposition to repeal the church property law and give the bishops ex- 
clusive right to ownership, also passed the House but was defeated in 
the Senate. In Ohio they have repealed the law. The press was to a 
large extent responsible for these acts. 

Note. — There is in Ireland a society for the protection of Roman 
Catholic priests who are converted to Protestantism. " The following 
document has been issued from these Protestant converts, in Dublin, 
addressed to Cardinal Wiseman : 

Irishmen ! We offered to return to the modern Church of Rome, if 
Cardinal Wiseman would prove in the presence of twelve honest, 
rational men, from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, that any one or all 
of the following articles in bis church of the popes existed in the ancient 



Concluding Remarks. 353 

primitive church of Christ, in that city, namely : Invocation of saints — 
"Worship of images — InfaUibility of the Church — Celibacy of the clergy 
— Transubstantiation — Auricular confession — Supremacy of the pope 
— Sale of indulgences — Services in Latin — Withholding the cup from 
the laity — Purgatory— Marialty, or worship of Virgin Mary — Seven 
Sacraments— Apochryphal books— Priestly intention — Yenial, or mortal 
sins — Sacrifice of the mass for the dead— Monastic institutions — Insuf- 
ficiency of the Scripture as a Rule of Faith — Prohibiting the reading of 
the Bible — Interpretation of the Scriptures according to the sense of 
the Church — Extreme unction — "Works of supererogation— New creed 
of Pius IX — The Inquisition. 

And, lastly, the immaculate conception. 

Irishmen ! We staked our present and future existence on this offer, 
and what has he (Cardinal Wiseman) done ? Why, he found it impossible 
to bring those articles to the test of God's word, and he has run away, 
and you all know what a man is who does this. We must, therefore, 
continue to hold fast the old faith we have embraced — the faith of the 
early Irish Church— the faith of the prunitive Church of Rome — the 
faith of the holy Catholic Church, &c. 

Irishmen ! As you love truth, honesty and valor, and your own 
souls, also, follow our example, and join us in our progress to light, 
liberty, independence, social improvement, national greatness, and a 
heaven at last." 



APPENDIX. 



The Breviary was re-compiled by a number of learned 
men, by order of Pius Y., and sanctioned by a bull in 
February, 1566, for the use of all bishops, orders of 
monks and monasteries ; Clement VIII., in 1602, again 
revised it, and finally. Urban VIII., in 1631, and this last 
revision is the one in general use in the Roman Catholic 
churches.* 

The Romish church attaches so much value to this 
book, that all who are professed in any order, of both 
sexes — all deacons, sub-deacons, and priests — are com- 
manded to repeat the whole service of the day out of the 
breviary, under the pain of being guilty of mortal sin. 
As we have seen the oiuns are particularly. The whole 
teachings of the legends are so infamous and jDolluting, 
that they cannot be reproduced in these pages ; and yet 
every young nun, in the United States, is compelled every 
day to read and ponder over them ! TVe shall conclude 
this subject with an account of the marriage of St. Vero- 
nica. In laying this legend before the American people, 
we have the advantage of giving the narrative in the 

* Brevarium Eomanum ex decreto Sacro Sancti Concilii Tridenti 

restitutum Pii V. Pont. Max. jussu editum et Clementis YIII. primum 

nunc denno Urbani P. P. VIII. Anctoritate recognitum. Fol. Ant. 

1697. 

[354] 



Appendix. 355 

very words of Cardinal Wiseman — ^the renowned Wise- 
man, now in Prorestant England. St. Veronica was only- 
canonized in 1839, by the late Pope Gregory XVIth. 
This is therefore no old legend. As Cardinal Wiseman 
and the late pope are good authorities with all Roman 
Catholics, we give the odious, unmeanmg and offensive 
narrative from Wiseman's book.* 

We pass over, as foreign to our immediate purpose, 
the accounts of her literal compassivity with her Spouse, 
the story of her being a perfect copy of the Divine pas- 
sion ; and we proceed to that which more immediately 
concerns our subject— her literal marriage to Christ, ac- 
cording to the forms of earthly marriage. 

On this subject Cardinal Wiseman says : 

" This spiritual union, with certain devout souls, God 
has been pleased to make manifest to them, by more sen- 
sible signs, acGornpanied hy formalities like those used in 
ordinary marriages. Of such we read in the life of the 
ecstatic St. Catharine of Sienna. To this exalted dignity 
God was pleased to exalt Veronica, as he revealed to her 
during the crowning of thorns, of which we have already 
spoken. But he prepared her for it by several visions, 
of which we will allow herself to speak. She says : 

" While I was one morning at mass, suddenly an appli- 
cation came upon me. During the course of it I felt 
certain touches in my heart, which excited me to a strong 
desire of uniting myself wholly to God. On a sudden, 
it seems to me, that God took me out of my senses, and, 

* Lives of St. Alphonsus Liguori, St. Francis de Girolamo, St. John 
Joseph of the cross, St. Pacificus of San Severino, and St. Veronica 
Giuliani, whose canonization took place on Trinity Sunday, May 26, 
1839, edited by N. Wiseman, D.D., Bishop of Melipotamus. London: 
C. Dolman, New Bond Street, 1846. 



356 Appendix. 

by communication, gave me to know, ab intra., that he 
wished to be espoused to me. This news made my heart 
to leap anew, and I felt it burning within me." She 
adds, " that in inviting her to his marriage, Jesus fre- 
quently aj^peared in the form of a beautiful infant ; and 
in the feast of the Circumcision, 1694, intimated to her, 
that her preparation for it was to be by all kinds of suf- 
ferings On the 2Tth of that month," she adds, 

" our Lord comforted her, by showing her with what 
delight he looked upon a beautiful jewel, fixed in the 
wound of his sacred side, and telling her that it had been 
formed of all the sufferings she had undergone for his 
sake. She offered herself anew to be crucified with him, 
and he seemed to stoop down and embrace her soul, 
giving it a kiss of love." .... Two day previous, our 
blessed Lady was pleased to prepare her for her espousals. 
This was by an intellectual vision, as she calls such in her 
writings, wherein she beheld the great queen of angels 
upon a magnificent throne, accompanied by St. Catharine 
of Sienna, and St. Rose of Lima. To their prayer that 
she would consent to the espousals of her servant, with 
her divine son, our Lady sweetly replied, that they 
should be brought about. Veronica saw in her hands a 
beautiful ring, intended, she was told, for her 

During Lent she practised the most cruel mortifica- 
tions and austerities. On holy Saturday our Lord 
appeared to her ; and showing her the nuptial ring, 
invited her to his marriage on the following day 

As she approached the altar, she heard the angels 
singing in sweetest melody, Veni Spoiisa Christi ; then 
being rapt out of her senses, she beheld two magnificent 
thrones, that on the right hand, of gold, decorated with 
the most splendid jewels, whereupon was seated our 



Appendix. 357 

blessed Lord, with his wounds shming brighter than the 
sun ; the other formed of alabaster, of purest whiteness, 
and brilliant with gems, and thereon was seated our 
blessed Lady, in a white mantle of surpassing richness, 
who besought her Son to hasten his marriage. Linumer- 
able were the multitudes of the heavenly court, in the 
midst whereof were the holy virgins St. Catharine and 
St. Rose ; the former of whom intimated to Veronica 
what she was to do in that most august solemnity. They 
conducted her slowly to the thrones ; and at the foot 
thereof, put upon her, over her religious habit, various 
robes, each surpassing the other in splendor. As she 
approached the throne of Christ, whose garments, she 
knows not, she says, how to describe, she beheld in each 
of his wounds a beautiful gem ; but from that in his side, 
which was open, rays more bright than the sun, darted 
on every side. In it she seemed to perceive the nuptial 
ring. When he raised up his hand to bless her, he en- 
toned the words Veni Spousa Christi ; and our lady, 
with the whO'C court taking them up, continued, accipe 
coronam^ quant tihi Dominus prceparavit in ceternum. 
St. Catharine then took off her rich attire, leaving only 
her religious habit, to show^ the saint intimates, its value 
in the eyes of God^ being allowed to appear in that 
glorious assembly. After remaining in this dress for a 
short time, our Lord made a sign to his blessed Mother, 
to clothe her with the nuptial garment. It was a mag- 
nificent mantle, covered with gems, and appeared of 
different colors. Our Lady gave it to St. Catharine, 
who put it upon Veronica, and placed her between the 
two thrones. Then, feeling herself more than ever 
pierced with love, she saw our Lord take the ring out of 
his side, and give it to his mother. " This ring," she 



35& 



Appendix. 



writes, " shone with splendor. It appeared to me to be 
made of gold, but all wrought in enamel, which formed 

in the stone a name of the good Jesus From 

time to time I gave looks of love towards my Lord, and 
seemed to address him, urging him to the espousals." 
The heavenly queen commanded her to stretch out her 
hand to St. Catharine, which Jesus took, " and at that 
moment," she writes, " I felt myself united more closely 
than ever with him. Together with Mary ever-blessed, 
he placed the ring upon my finger, and then blessed it.' 
In that instant heaven again resounded with the songs of 
the angelic choir, after which her divine spouse gave her 

new rules He told her he would he entirely 

hersP 

Thus ended this mystic ceremony of her espousals . . 
She adds, " that nearly at every communion the same 
marriage was renewed and that the ring re- 
mained uj^on her finger. (!!!!) Sister Mary 

8pacciani attests that she saw it once distinctly with her 
own eyes. ( ! ! ) . . . . In the Processes^ two other 
rings are mentioned as having been given to her at the 

espousals, and the renewal of them Likewise 

another which was enriched with three gems." 

Mark all this — Sister Spacciani saw the ring ! and 
Cardinal Wiseman fully believes it. Like St. Francis, 
St. Catharine, and others, she received the honor of the 
stigmata^ or wounds in her hands, and feet, and side, as 
Cardinal Wiseman relates it. 

" Her loving spouse rewarded her constancy and love, 
by the wound which he made in her heart, in the year 



<* The formal official acts upon which the Bull of Canonization was 
made out. 



Appendix. 359 

1696." " I seemed to see," she writes, " in the hand of 
the holy infant, a rod of gold, at the point of which was, 
as it were, a flame of fire, and at the foot a small piece of 
iron, like a little lance : and he placed this rod against 
his own heart, and the point of the lance in my heart ; 
and it seemed that I felt my heart pierced through and 
through. In an instant I saw nothing in his hand ; but 
full of grace and beauty he invited me to love him, and 
by Avay of communication, he made me to understand 
that he had bound me to himself by a closer tie." . . . 
Through modesty she abstained from looking at the 
wound, but she put a linen cloth upon it, which was im- 
mediately covered with blood. Her confessor ordered 
her to examine it, and she found it open, and observed 
that it was large enough to admit the blade of a good- 
sized knife — as is attested in the Processes. (!!!) On 
Good Friday she received the rich pledges of love which 
were vouchsafed to the seraphic St. Francis, St. Cathar- 
ine, and other saints : for our Lord after having previously 
foretold these graces, and after displaying his mercies in 
other ways, to her, was pleased to imprmt on her hands 
and feet the stigmata or wounds of his most sacred pas- 
sion. These wounds were afterwards renewed upon sev- 
eral other occasions They were the wounds which 

her blessed spouse had made. 

Those in her hands and feet, as Florida Ceoli and 
other sisters attest^ (• • •) were on the upper side, round, 
and about the size of a farthing, but less on the under 
side, deep and red when open, and covered with a thin 
cicatrix or crust when closed. The wound in the left side 
above the left breast, was between four and five fingers 
in length, and about one finger broad in the middle, 



360 Appendix. 

growing thinner towards the two extremities, exactly 
like the wound of a lance ! ! 

The following work is our high Romish authority for 
the ceremonies of espousalship to Christ : * 

* Pontificate Romanum Pars Prima De Benedictione et Consecratione 
Yirginura. Brussels, 1735 ; Foyes' Romish Rites, Offices and Legends. 
.Londcn, 1839. 



NOTE A. 

(Sec Pago 86.) 

De largitatis tuoe fonte defluxit ut cum honorein nup- 
tiarum nulla interdicta minuissent ac super sanctum con 
jugium nuptialis benedictio permaneret existirent tamen 
sublimiores animae quce in viri ac muliehris copula fas- 
tidirent conmihium* concupiscerent sacramentum, nee 
imitarentur quod nuptiis agitur, sed diligerent quod nup- 
tiis prsenotatur. 

* This is said to a girl of sixteen. 



82 5 • 













3^ 






*" J^i^^M :^ , \^ "^- ^' ^\v vvs^ ^' Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. , 

^/- *^ 9 I \ *^ "^ v^"^ '^ ^ ft :>* Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide "'^ 

" C \ ^ •^ '■ " ' '^ /, ^> ^ ^ ^ o"^ Treatment Date: Jan. 2006 

° ^^^ \^^'' -* "^Is t '^^ c,'^ . PreservatJonTechnologies \ 

- ^ 7 - '-^ ' « A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION ^ 

-$** -^ c "" aV .y> " 1 1 1 Thomson Park Dnve S: 

qV - - ^ .. ^ ^ -X^ '-'^ ' Cranberry Township. PA 16066 \> 

,0 ,^ "'o»i~»" .\ ^.s ' (724)779-2111 









x- ^ , V * -\ ^^D 



Cl 









^6 ^ 







S -^^^ .V .n. 



4"' 



tj 









-\^ 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

|!!l!it||iilt|!|' 





lllllltllllllltll 
017 318 449 9 #1 



